Archieval Revival Part 1: Rise of OMEGA
by SuperiorSoul0
Summary: An enemy of TUFF's past resurfaces. Can Dudley and Kitty find out what this new evil wants before the world is destroyed or enslaved? TUFF Puppy is property of Nickelodeon, but OC's are mine. It's my first time doing this so please be fair on the comments. The characters may be"tweaked", but I'm trying to stay true to their original personas.
1. Chapter 1

It was a common sunny morning in the city of Petropolis. After 20 years of hard work and safety patrols, everything seemed to be at a more balanced nature. At this moment, Dudley Puppy's alarm clock went off which he smashed with a hammer. "This is IT!" he yelled as he jumped from his race car bed and after removing his pajamas, and putting his usual black t-shirt on.

"Dudley, breakfast", his mother Peg called from downstairs.

"Be right there."he answered. "I can't believe this is happening. Today is the day the new Tuff CEO will be announced! I can't wait."

Dudley then went to the bathroom, and after showering, brushing his teeth and using mouthwash (his mom's been trying to teach him new stuff lately since she left him in Frisky Business), he headed downstairs rather fast and tripped and fell down the stairs( which happens often). At that moment Peg had walked in and after seeing Dudley on the floor looked as though she might faint.

"Dudley, are you alright sweetheart?" she asked him as she did a quick look to see if he was fine.

"I'm okay Mom. I just fell down the stairs again", he answered.

"Dudley, you could have got a concussion. What's with the rush? I know that you're a Tuff agent and all, but do you really have to rush everything? By the way breakfast is on the table." Peg assured beginning to calm down a bit. Dudley however had made his way to the kitchen table and after scarfing it down, headed to the door.

"Dudley, don't forget to make an sure your seat belt is fastened.", Peg called after him as he blew her a kiss good-bye. As Dudley made his way to the Tuffmobile parked on the curb, he turned to see his mom at the front porch to see him off and noticed new purple shutters just starting to get painted.

"Mom, why are you painting our shutters purple? Can't they be gray or even-"

"Dudley, works not gonna wait." Peg called which caused Dudley to floor the gas and speed off with surprising speed. Peg however looked worried.

"Dudley, sometimes I really worry about you. I just don't want anything bad to happen to you. I know that I can be a little overprotective at times, but isn't every mom a little?" She walked back inside closing the door behind her.

Over at Tuff HQ, there was excitement in the air. Everybody in Petropolis had gathered because today marked a very special day. News anchorman Wolf Spitzer even made the trip.

"This is Petropolis news anchorman Wolf Spitzer here are just outside Tuff HQ, with chief agent Herbert Dumbrowski who will soon be retiring."

The chief, Keswick and Kitty Katswell were in the front of Tuff HQ. After being on the job for so long, it was finally time to elect the new chief of Tuff.

"After being on the job for so long, I think it's finally time for someone else to take my place" the chief told Spitzer and just then Dudley showed up and after parking the Tuffmobile, zoomed up to be beside Kitty.

"Dudley, you almost missed the announcement", Kitty assured him sounding a little annoyed that he was late.

"Sorry Kitty, I'm just so excited",he answered. After several minutes, it was time for the main event.

"As we know," the chief announced, "the time as come. The new chief of Tuff has worked here for many years and through great promise and consideration, I have chosen one of our finest for the job."

"Come on chief.", Dudley thought his excitement growing, "Say my name."

"So without further ado, I'm pleased to announce the new chief of TUFF: Agent Kitty Katswell!" At that moment a huge banner rolled down saying "Congratulations Kitty" and although the crowd was cheering, Dudley cheered loudest of all which halted it.

" I knew it. I knew it. I knew it. Thanks every body for seeing that I am more than suitable to-"

"Heel Agent Puppy!", the chief ordered which Dudley did, "You didn't get the job."

Dudley looked shocked.

"What?"

"You...didn't...get..the...job",the chief said again.

Dudley started to sniffle and his eyes started to water.

"But...why?"

"Agent Puppy, you're a great agent. But Kitty has been here longer than you have and it's natural she had this job because she's just well, more mature than you."

"I'm not mature?" Dudley asked as a tear slid down the side of his face.

"No it's not that, what I'm saying is, you're merely a child at heart and to be the chief of a secret agency, you need to be a man. Understand?"

"I guess so", Dudley whimpered as he stepped off the stage and walked inside TUFF HQ slumped. Although she won, Kitty watched Dudley go inside and she couldn't help feeling sorry for him. Later in the day as Kitty cleared out her desk to move into the chief's office, she stopped by Dudley's cubicle where she found his still sulking.

"Hey, you okay?"she asked him, but he didn't answer. "Dudley please, talk to me." Dudley turned around and looked her in the eyes.

"Kitty, if your the new chief, what about me? Without you, I'm nothing."

"Listen Dudley, I'm going to put my stuff into my new office. Try and make it through the day, I'll meet you after work and we'll talk okay?"

"Okay." he answered although his words sounded hollow.

As the day wore on, no crime seemed to be occurring that day. Finally at the end of the shift as she promised, Kitty met up with Dudley so they could chat.

"How was work?" she asked as they drove home(just to clarify, Kitty's driving).

"Don't know, I spent the whole day sulking. We've gone through so much together haven't we?" Kitty sighed.

"Yes we have". She remembered the day her partner and her met. She didn't like him then, but as they continued to work and learn more of each other, the more he grew on her. He might not have been the best partner she had, but he did make her job a lot more exciting and fun. Finally they parked outside Dudley's house and as Dudley got out Kitty stopped him.

"Hey, no matter what anybody says, you'll always be the best secret agent to me."

Dudley was starting to tear up a little, but he managed a smile.

"Thanks Kitty. That means a lot to me."

As he walked up to his house, he looked back to see Kitty wave back before driving off. He felt a little better but not very. The following day, work was still pretty much the same as yesterday, Kitty was continuing on her duties as the new chief of TUFF and Dudley was at his post trying to do some work, but Kitty could tell he still needed some help so she walked over to chat.

"Hey Dudley, I've been thinking about our talk yesterday and I was thinking that maybe-"

"You're going to decline you're new position?" Dudley asked lighting up a lot.

"No, I think that you should partner up with someone else."

"WHAT?!", Dudley answered in shock, "Partner up with SOMEONE NEW?!"

"Pipe down!", Herbert called outside his office on video chat( as he normally does), "I don't make me tell Keswick to use the Holler Collar again."

"Dudley, I'm sure you can find a suitable replacement somewhere. Keswick will help." Kitty assured him.

Despite the efforts he made to try and change Kitty's mind, Dudley had to partner up with somebody. Keswick used the only method the had on short notice: pick a name out of the old hat tactic. However when every other agent found out about what the hat was for, they all cleared out almost as fast as lightning. Keswick did pick a name, but shortly after he did, Dudley's new partner quit being his partner. And the same thing happened to the next several replacements also. Either the teamwork was too unstable, or Dudley drove his new partners totally crazy. While all this was occurring, Kitty was getting settled into her new station in the chief's office. As she was getting organized, she accidentally bumped her phone and triggered the answering machine. When she heard Dudley's excuse and the chief's objection, she couldn't help but feel like she did like things the way they were. Dudley did drive her a little crazy( okay, a lot), did get them caught and nearly dead, and stick his nose where it shouldn't have. Then again, he did come out as the partner she could rely on. And his personality did add more spice to her regular crime fighting life. Just then Herbert saw that she was reflecting and wanted to get her attention, but he felt like she went through a lot lately and decided she needed a moment. He remembered the time Dudley was chief of TUFF( even though it was for a day) and it was pretty interesting. But the rules were the rules, and all TUFF agents had to abide by them. Dudley however, was not so fortunate. Finally Keswick threw in the towel.

"That's it. We've gone through every p-p-p-ops-possible agent that we have, and NOBODY wants to be PARTNERS with AGENT PU-PU-PUPPY because he's JUST TOO UNPREDICTABLE!", Keswick fumed.

That comment really struck Dudley low.

"He's right, nobody can replace Kitty, I know I can be a pain at times, but I can't help myself." Dudley then slumped over to his desk and just sat there wailing at the thought that maybe he'll never find someone new. Then he figured that maybe Kitty could do missions with him even though she was his new boss, but it wouldn't feel the same as her doing missions with her every single day. Keswick went back to his lab to work on scientific development while Kitty watched Dudley through her office window. Herbert saw she was looking a little down so he hopped over to her.

"You really miss him don't you Agent Katswell?", he asked her and Kitty sighed.

"Chief, I do miss him, and I know that my new job is supposed to be a major event, but do I really need to give up on my partner?"

"Sorry Kitty, but you know the rules. Sooner or later, Agent Puppy needs to learn to grow up and move on. He's not going to have this job forever. And neither will I. There will be times when you can accompany him on his missions, but it can't be a daily routine. A chief must always do the right thing, even though it's hard."


	2. Chapter 2

Underneath the streets of Petropolis, between a mass array of pipes and passages, Verminious Snaptrap held his lair. Verminious led an organization called DOOM which stood for the Diabolical Order of Mayhem. Although he allied himself with other villains, he preferred to work alone. And on this particular day, he was down in the dumps.

"I can't come up with an evil plan nowadays guys", he grumbled to his fellow criminals Ollie, Francisco, and Larry who were sitting around their skull table.

"If you can't come up with a plan, why do you try?", Larry asked eager to know.

"Sorry Larry. I can't hear you over the shark tank", Snaptrap snapped and he pulled a lever and Larry got dumped into the shark tank( as usual) although the sharks(obviously bored of doing this) just swam around and did nothing. With that taken care of, Snaptrap turned to Ollie and Francisco.

"Any of you guys, got any ideas? Because if we're going to defeat TUFF, we need an evil plan."

Just then, the doorbell rang. Larry had climbed out of the shark tank and gave the impression he was severely injured(he's gotten pretty good at this) while he went to check to see who it was. He then came back with only an ominous black envelope written in red ink.

"Hey Snaptrap, you got a letter from someone."

Snaptrap opened the envelope, read the letter that was in it, and turned to his friends.

"Boys, looks like we're taking a trip to a special area. Wait I should call TUFF and inform them."

Snaptrap went over to his screen, but was halted by Ollie.

"Um boss, the note says don't call TUFF." he informed turning over the paper which had "DON'T CALL TUFF" printed on it and showing it to Snaptrap.

"Darn", Snaptrap muttered, "let's just head out."

At this time, Dudley was driving around in the Tuffmobile still feeling down about having to not have Kitty as a partner again. Keswick did have a point. He was pretty unpredictable, but then again he did pull through when everyone needed him(in his own way). He then pulled out a green chew toy from the glove compartment. It was the thing that made him cross paths with Kitty. He stopped by a clear view of the bay so he could reflect on his memory. They had some real good times. Dudley didn't know it, but he was being watched. Lurking in the shadows of a nearby ally, two shady figures dressed in dark trench coats and wide brimmed hats stood nearby. One lifted it's dark gloved hand and adjusted it's view so it could see Dudley and it's doppelganger did the same. Although they looked alike, they were a slight different in personality.

"Are you sure that he's the-", one started revealing to be male.

"Target? Of course", the other finished revealing it was a female. "We have our-"

"Instructions.", the male chimed in, " Keep a watchful eye and keep-"

"A low profile" , the female finished.

The two figures continued their observation for a while when Dudley started up the Tuffmobile once more and was off. Then they slinked back into the shadows and drive out on motorcycles and were in pursuit although keeping their distance so Dudley wouldn't know he was being followed. Using this tactic, they followed Dudley back home and parked nearby. The male pulled out a pair of binoculars while the female pulled out a pair of bladed knuckles( basically brass knuckles with blades so you know).

By this time Snaptrap and DOOM had made their way to a very dark and very old warehouse near the wharf. Although the forecast stated that the skies would be clear all night, Snaptrap couldn't help but notice the dark storm clouds hanging over the warehouse. Something wasn't right. He just entered the warehouse with the rest of DOOM following. Inside it was dark and barely any light. They made their way to the end to see Bird Brain with his own henchmen already there.

"Hey Bird Brain, what brings you here?", Snaptrap asked.

"Isn't it obvious?", Bird Brain stated, "I got a letter this afternoon to meet here with someone."

"Who?", asked Owl.

"Where?", asked Bat.

"Me, and here at this warehouse", Bird Brain reminded them. Zippy however kept a low profile.

"So do you have any idea who sent this letter?", Bird Brain asked Snaptrap showing his letter that looked very similar to Snaptrap's.

"You don't suppose it's from some kind of new villain who want's us in do you?", Snaptrap suggested. Just then, one of the crates shifted into the Chameleon.

"Greetings fellow villains. Did you get letters too?" He reached into his transformation suit and pulled out his letter which was the same as the other two. At that moment, the whole room went pitch black, and after a few short moments, the lights came back on. Snaptrap, Bird Brain and the Chameleon looked around and now noticed that Snaptrap and Bird Brains henchmen had vanished and a dark figure stood nearby. It was too dark to see exactly what it was and all that showed were the glowing markings on it's skin and red eyes with the scent of brimstone in the air.

"I am...most unsatisfied", the figure spoke in a voice as cold as ice and with no sign of feeling, "At first I considered TUFF to be a minor annoyance. And I entrusted you three with their destruction. To get them out of the way and allow me..to reclaim the world so rightfully mine."

"Well sir", Bird Brain piped up, "we were doing our-"

"SILENCE!", the figure roared zapping his audience with chaotic energy and shaking the warehouse with each word, "I DON'T WANT EXPLANATIONS OR APOLAGIES, I WANT RESULTS!"

"B-b-but we tried everything", Snaptrap whined.

"I provide you the best criminal technology the underworld can offer, and WHAT DO YOU DO?!", the figure sneered, "You bumbled, misused it, and on top of that, YOU LET TUFF GET A HOLD OF IT!"

Snaptrap, Bird Brain and the Chameleon cringed as their host continued his raving.

"You three also are overdue on the payments you promised me for my technology, and since you idiots can't do what I instruct you to do, I'll have to take matters into my own claws."

The figure stepped forward to reveal a black dog in a red leather coat that would come down to to top of his boots(if he wore any), dark gray pants, and white hair neatly brushed and combed.

"I won't tolerate failure any more." The dog reached into his coat and pulled out three vials of clear liquid and his face twisted into a satanic smile as Snaptrap, Bird Brain, and the Chameleon tried to back away, but were instantly restrained by several androids that appeared out of the shadows and held them down.

"No please sir", Snaptrap begged.

"We won't fail you again", Bird Brain added.

"We just need a little more time", Chameleon assured.

"Time's up gentlemen", the dog stated tossing the vials to another android next to it that turned them into shots and as the dog turned and walked away, the android came closer even with their captives trying to object and get free but no avail. And when it reached them, the android injected the serum.

At her house, Kitty was still having thoughts about her new position. Even though she showed that she did have the qualities that she needed to take the chief's place, she still felt like it wasn't the same. Herbert's words still rang in her ears about Dudley having to grow up and move on and she didn't really like it, but as Herbert said: a chief has to do the right thing even though it's hard. Just then she looked at her new photo album of precious memories( she ordered a fresh one to replace the one Dudley blew up) and was instantly looking through it. Oh, the memories. Like the one time they guarded King Mutt's bone, when they went on that camping mission, when Dudley got fired for the first time and later reinstated, helping Dudley on Halloween, and even though she felt very emotional in those times when Dudley messed up, she couldn't shake the feeling that she actually liked him. All starting with that one mission she had to stop Snaptrap from using the Kruger Rat idol. Such a shame they now would do missions on a rare basis together. She put her album on the shelf and went over to her kitchen to prepare some tuna casserole. She definably remembered the time she made fish cookies( hey it was her first time with something new) and got the recipe book from the cupboard. And she certainly remembered that one mission where she pretended that Dudley and her were getting hitched. It was fake but still, she couldn't help but think maybe part of her deep down inside was really happy to go through with it. Then she noticed the window was open and she remembered that moment too( the time Dudley opened her window in "Doom-mates"). Why couldn't she stop thinking about him?

While this was going on, Dudley's "pursuers" were still observing. Using the latest criminal tech on record, they were able to see into the house without actually entering.

"Can you believe the things we've-", the male started.

"Seen?", the female finished, "Of course not."

She wasn't kidding. They watched Dudley reflect on his experiences, cried his heart out over not being able to do missions with Kitty, and forced themselves to watch him prepare for bed( that was the hardest part). Just then, their special ear phones gave a ring. These you understand are special phones so that their caller and them can hear each other, but nobody else.

"00 to 03(the male) and 04(the female). Report."

"Sir, our observation goes-", 03 started.

"As instructed", 04 finished.

"Excellent. I'm dealing with some..minor annoyances right now. Continue with the assignment await further orders."

"Aye, aye sir", 03 and 04 answered in unification. The both lifted their hats to reveal that they're German weasels.

"Remember, Earth's salvation and purification depends on our success. Don't disappoint me, or the consequences will be most..severe. You do know what I mean do you not?"

"We live to-", 04 started.

"Obey you, master", 03 finished.

And with that 00 hung up, and 03 and 04 continued observation for a minute or two, then they slinked away into the shadows and out of sight from those who should not see them( which is about everyone).


	3. Chapter 3

The Petropolis International airport was bustling at this time of night. Pedestrians, officials, and the like rushing to catch their flight, new faces coming in and some just chilling and enjoying the food courts. Then as a flight from Japan made an entrance and on time as well. As the pedestrians made their way passed the immigration desk, one pedestrian( an Alaskan malamute) wearing the average pedestrian look( slacks, collared shirt and glasses) made his way to the desk and presented his passport.

"Welcome to Petropolis, Mr. Swigger.", the desk operator( a gray hound) told him handing him his passport back, "enjoy your stay."

"Thanks, I'm sure I will.", he answered as he walked away and headed toward the baggage claim.

While there, Mr. Swigger looked around to see if anyone was paying attention and after confirming it, he laid low near a large palm tree prop and made a call on his special Viacom transmitter.

"I'm in."

"Excellent, meet us at the rendezvous spot and await further instruction", the voice on the other end answered, "Over and out."

Swigger made his way outside and pulled a small cube from his pocket and after setting it on the side of the curb, pulled a set of ignition keys and pressed the green button. Then the cube ( using the latest Nanomorphic technology) shifted into a very hot looking motorcycle. While that occurred, Swigger clicked a side panel on his belt buckle and his clothes turned to that of a hardcore biker( such as black leather jacket with spikes along the shoulders, tight jeans, and fingerless gloves) and his blonde hair turned long, black and greasy with the occasional white highlight. Then after pulling on a pair of black sunglasses over his eyes( one brown and the other blue) and mounting on his motorcycle, he started ignition.

"Let's rock.", he declared in very biker sort of way, and the bike was soon rolling down the streets with a rumble while other pedestrians looked in awe. Then after a brief moment, Swigger stopped by a clear shop window and noticed his clear face.

"Whoops, one more thing.", he stated to himself and after a slight strain on his face, his entire face burst a black goatee, sideburns, and mustache just as greasy as his hair. Then he sped off once more.

While at this time, a real estate agent( a bunny) was introducing an elderly old Persian cat wearing a very moth eaten shawl and purple dress with an afghan under her arm.

"So, Madam Pershaw, you've seen every aspect of the house and do you think your grandson is going to like it here?"

"Oh yes dear.", Madam Pershaw purred while adjusting her white rimmed glasses and gray hair, "He's going to love it here."

Then the agent handed Pershaw a set of keys, returned to her car and after then coming back to reclaim the sign that stated the house was for sale, she drove away, but Pershaw remained on the street. Just then, motorcycle sounds drew near.

"Oh yes.", Madam Pershaw purred looking up and seeing Swigger approach, "right on time."

Swigger then pulled up and after dismounting and shifting his bike into it's original cube, placed it in his jacket pocket, and faced Pershaw.

"Madame Pershaw, I assume?", he asked bowing nobly.

"You assume correctly, Dante Swigger.", she answered bowing just as nobly.

They then turned and entered the house, locking the door behind them. Then they quickly pulled the shades down and after confirming nobody was around to eavesdrop( such as a quick glance outside the shades), Madame Pershaw pulled a metal sphere from under her afghan and placed it on the coffee table near a wall.

"So how did I do on the house guys?", a voice asked from another corner of the room.

Dante and Pershaw turned around fast to see a Redbone hound wearing average blue jeans, a plaid shirt, and brown hair neatly combed.

"Later.", Swigger issued as the Redbone made his way over to the table.

Swigger pressed the button flashing on top of the sphere and it opened up to laptop and instantly sprang on.

"Beginning transmission now.", it answered in a mechanical voice.

The screen then showed the silhouette of a German shepherd( or something of the like).

"Atten-TION!", the silhouette ordered and his audience stood straight, "So the team is all there?"

"Sir, yes sir.", they answered without hesitation.

"Listen carefully, our enemy is on the move and I have prepared your mission briefing. Streaming now."

The laptop then printed out a sheet of paper with the briefing printed on it in black ink and Madame Pershaw retrieved it and placed it in her afghan.

"This mission", the silhouette continued, "should you choose to accept it, is on that paper. Once accepted, you're on your own. Do you accept?"

"We do sir.", his audience answered, "We look forward to our mission."

"So be it.", the silhouette replied, "Remember, failure is not in our dictionary."

"Aye, aye sir.", his audience declared, "We won't disappoint you."

"Best of luck agents. Dark Wolf out."

With that the screen went blank and the laptop then started beeping.

"This message will now self-destruct. Have a nice day."

Early the following day, Dudley was taking a drive down the street again in the Tuffmobile. It wasn't time for him to be at work yet, so he figured he would drive around and see if he could clear his head. He still couldn't think of anybody who could be partners with him to replace Kitty. Keswick informed him last night that a new list of possible partners as soon as the week was over but it didn't help him.

"Jeez, I run through one list and now I run through another? I really need somebody who's eligible, but it's not like answers to my problems just walk up and smack you across the face."

He then glanced over and noticed that he was passing by the power plant. Oh, the memories he remembered( or at least he tried to remember) such as when Larry and GLOOM hacked into it, or the time when Keswick invented a toaster that went haywire and almost took over. He then stopped by the old Chew Toys and Stuff building and figured that he would go in just to relive the moment he bought that one chew toy that started his job. Just as he jumped back out, something drove by. It was a moment, then the transmitter on his wrist started to beep. He pressed it and Kitty's face showed up.

"Dudley, we got trouble. Someone is robbing the Petropolis bank. The first one, and I need you to investigate. You can do this alone, can't you?"

"Me?! Investigate?! Alone?!", Dudley asked in surprise, "But I don't have a partner."

"Just get over there and see what's going on" Kitty instructed and the screen went blank.

Dudley then drove over to the First Petropolis Bank to see that a couple of crooks looking really beat up and were being tied up with a very hardcore looking Alaska malamute biker finishing the knot on the rope.

"Hey you", Dudley called out, "what's the big idea?"

The malamute looked up and seeing Dudley, somersaulted in the air backwards and was on a motorcycle and speeding away. Dudley wasted no time and sped after him. The biker was definably wasn't going down without a fight( and for that matter, neither was Dudley). Dudley tried missiles, but the biker activated some sort of shield which caused them to backfire. Then the biker activated an oil slick which sent Dudley off track, so he shifted the Tuffmobile to flying- mode only to see the biker drive off the edge of the highway and his cycle shift into a flying machine as well.

"Where did he get THAT?!", Dudley asked himself in shock.

The biker then flipped a switch on his gauge and headed into the clouds with Dudley following. Just as Dudley seemed to get near, the biker plummeted straight for the ground so he followed that too. Then the biker pulled back onto the ground and shifting his bike into ground mode. Dudley closed in from above, and then the biker threw something in the air which landed a few feet in front of him. As Dudley crossed it, his car came to a sudden halt causing him to jerk in his seat for a second. He tried everything, but everything either was disabled or offline. The biker had vanished, and was nowhere to be seen.

"Who was that?", Dudley asked himself.

Then, the car came back on, and Dudley crashed into the sidewalk. CRASH!

Back at TUFF, everyone was busy muttering among themselves just as Dudley walked in pretty hurt, but he'll be okay.

"Hey Dudley, you okay?", Kitty asked him as she walked him to the others.

"I don't know Kitty. First of all, when I got to the bank, somebody already caught the crooks."

Just then the big screen flashed and Wolf Spitzer showed up.

"This is Wolf Spitzer with breaking news. Earlier today we just encountered this amazing display of heroism by this mysterious biker."

Wolf's picture vanished and footage of the crooks making their way to their car showed and the biker Dudley chased earlier showed up out of nowhere and the footage froze.

"All of Petropolis is wondering: who is this new vigilante?", Wolf continued, "Could he be a new secret agent going solo? Or is he something more? Nobody knows."

Dudley stared at the screen as the footage continued. That biker was a pretty good fighter( probably just as good as Kitty), but he still didn't like it.

"Hey, if this is a new agent, you think we can get him to join TUFF?", Herbert asked getting excited, "With that kind of training, he'd be a perfect fit for the job."

Dudley couldn't believe his ears. First a newcomer takes down his targets, and now he's being offered a position? And the other agent just couldn't stop talking on how this new "mystery agent" was so good, and skilled that Dudley couldn't help but feel ignored so he walked off to his cubicle in a huff and still thinking of his "encounter". Just then, his bone-phone rang. When he clicked it, a text message showed on with two words and a letter: "Game on. J".

"Who's J?", he wondered.


	4. Chapter 4

For several weeks, Dudley tried to do his job as a TUFF agent and for some reason, somebody always got there before he even showed up. That part he didn't mind, but his fellow agents admiring this newcomer while hardly even noticing him he did. One time, when the Caped Cod tried to once again flood the city, J showed up and left a little note when he was done: "Whoops u missed me". Another time, when a rogue explosives expert tried blowing up a railway, J got there too and left yet another note: "Oops, too slow". By the time Dudley was done at work he was not at all pleased.

"What's J's big idea?", he thought bitterly to himself, "Take my job away? I have worked at TUFF for a long time and no copycat like J is going to get the best of me."

The following day, TUFF received a phone call from General Warhog at the Petropolis Military base. Dudley wanted to get the jump on J this time, so he headed out right away. When he got there, Warhog was waiting for him near a large vault door that had apparently been blown open.

"So what happened?", Dudley asked him eager to get details.

"Somebody broke into our vaults just a few hours ago", Warhog informed.

"And what was stolen?", Dudley asked.

"For some reason, nothing was even touched", Warhog said with a shrug.

Now this was odd. What kind of criminal breaks into a maximum security vault, but takes nothing? Dudley didn't know so he headed back to TUFF with a report, but he had a feeling that a "certain someone" was behind this. At TUFF, Kitty was getting some leadership practice in so she could keep her cool in harsh situations when Dudley came in.

"So what did you find out?", she asked him.

"False alarm", Dudley informed, "Nothing was even touched there."

"Nothing?", Kitty asked completely in surprise.

"I know, but I think this has J written all over it.", Dudley answered in suspicion.

Dudley took out the notes that J left at the scene of his "deeds" and Kitty saw they all were signed by J.

"And get this Dudley", Kitty informed him, "while you were out at the base, J was committing various deeds across Petropolis."

She pulled up some video montage on the big screen which showed the same biker that Dudley encountered saving pedestrians, stopping crime, and then vanishing before anyone could get a better look. Then the screen showed some places that appeared to have been robbed( such as laboratories, power plant, and machine parts department stores. Now Dudley was getting a little bit mad. J was more than just a copycat, he was a glory hog as well.

While all that was happening, 03 and 04 had been investigating on certain pedestrians( such as the mayor, the power plant operators, and the like).

"Some people have no idea-", 03 started.

"That we're around", 04 finished, "And yet we are able to see them-"

"Live and waste their lives away", 03 added.

They had gotten Dudley's entire daily schedule down over the weeks and kept a low profile as instructed by their "boss" and had gotten a new mission briefing. Now they were to keep an eye on certain "targets" and mark them for something else. Their boss never told them what was going on, they just got orders. Not that it mattered anyway, being expert assassins, they were prepared to take on any foe with their agile and sleek mobility. Often using these qualities as a form of ambush, they could slit the throat of anybody before anyone knew they were in the room. Then, their special headphones gave a ring and believe it or not, it was their boss again.

"03, 04. Report!"

"Targets acquired", 03 stated, "and soon-"

"Will be ready", 04 finished.

"Excellent, keep up the good work. My "minor issues" are resolved. All in all, you've done well. If all goes to plan, this world, will be ours for the purifying."

"So shall it be", 03 and 04 answered in unification.

"I'll soon be in for a personal mission. Over and out."

And then their boss hung up, and 03 and 04 went back to their surveillance and note taking objectives all while double checking their arsenal of gadgets and serrated blades( hey you never know when you'll need them).

Dudley had never felt so overwhelmed. First a newcomer takes the spotlight, and now crime was very low. Snaptrap, Bird Brain or the Chameleon had not reported seen in a long time, and these small time crooks were getting kind of old. Just then Kitty walked in and noticed he looked kind of upset so she walked over.

"Hey, what's with you?"

"I don't know Kitty", Dudley sighed heavily, "I just don't feel confident with you away from me. I know those times I messed up were kind of bad, but still."

"Oh yeah, like the time you let your imaginations loose using Keswick's simulation machine. Remember how much trouble that was?"

"And the time I accidentally sent you're e-mail diary to everyone?"

"Oh, I still dream about it. And the time you spent our lunch money on a stupid gold hat?"

"I have a fondness for shiny stuff. Anyway, I may not be the best, but I need you Kitty. Nobody else wants to be near me, I can't do my missions right anymore cause you're not there to scold and correct me", Dudley whined as his eyes got all watery, " I NEED YOU KITTY!"

"Oh, it's okay Dudley", Kitty said trying to calm him, "Listen, after I get some training to be chief done, I'll accompany you on you're next assignment?"

"Alright, Kitty", Dudley sniffled, "I'll keep trying. For you and for me."

"That's all I want to hear", Kitty told him, "Why don't you clean out the vault? Nobody's been there in a while."

Dudley had not been this far in the vault before. Many of inventions Keswick invented that proved to dangerous were often kept in here. As Dudley made his way through, He accidentally tripped on a wire and crashed into a very rusty and dusty file cabinet. After fanning away the dust cloud, He looked into it( although it took some effort to get it open) and found an old file. He pulled it out and then opened it to find yellowed sheets of paper with the writing barely readable. As he turned it a little, something went clang near his foot. He looked and found a flash drive. He put the file back in the cabinet, closed it, and exited the vault with the flash drive. What was it? Is it important? He didn't know. So when he got to his computer, he inserted the flash drive and after loading it's contents, looked over it. It was unbelievable, now on his screen, Dudley found several formula's for strength, speed, regeneration, you name it. Dudley then found one trial experiment and that one made his heart stop. It showed a full scan of dog abilities, but no drawbacks. And for a second, he wondered that if TUFF had this, who knows what they could do. Then Herbert hopped over and landed on his desk.

"Hey Dudley, what are you up to?"

"Chief, look at this", Dudley answered showing Herbert his screen and Herbert then turned pale as though he had seen a ghost.

"Dudley, where did you find this?"

"In the vaults. Why?"

"Dudley, I think you should put that flash drive back and forget about it."

"Forget about it? But chief-"

"No buts Dudley. Put it back before it gets out of hand. I'm not going through with this again.", Herbert stated firmly but then covered his mouth to stop himself, but Dudley had heard every word.

"Again? But chief do you know what this means? For me? For TUFF? For the world?! With this new power, we could end-"

"ABSOLUTY NOT!", Herbert yelled as he unplugged the flash drive and hurling it into the trash can, "We are NOT going to allow this to occur! I know where you're going with this and it is not the answer to our problems. Dudley, listen don't try anything you saw on that drive. Don't do something you'll regret later."

Herbert then turned and hopped away, but Dudley went to the trash can and got the flash drive out.

"Oh chief, why won't you let me try? This could be the thing we need. At least he can't stop me from keeping it safe, right?", Dudley asked himself.

With that, Dudley hid the flash drive in his shirt, and walked back to his desk, pretending that he had forgotten about the flash drive, but now he got curious. That last trial still etched in his mind made him think about himself. Is this super soldier me?

By now Dante had made his way back to the rendezvous point and after checking that he was not being followed, entered the house fast and shut the door. Inside, the Redbone dog was busy putting together a very fancy looking piece of hardware when Dante came near.

"Did you get the stuff?", he asked Dante.

Dante laid out the pieces of machinery he had gathered when Madame Pershaw came near and laid out what she gathered. Then the Redbone turned and inspected everything.

"Tricluse power compacter, Plutonium energized core, several bolts of cast iron, and finally, a newly developed laser drill/frame cutter. Yep first list retrieved."

Madame Pershaw tore off a portion of the list they were given and threw it into the fireplace where it burned away in the flames. While she was doing that, the Redbone set up a special pad of panels and placed the materials onto it. Then he punched in the code on a laptop he plugged into the side and then the panels started to light up and hum loudly.

"Transporting materials now", the Redbone stated as he pressed a button on the keyboard.

Once that happened, there was a flash off light, a fragrance of scorched steel and crude oil, then it was all over and the materials on the panels were no longer there.

"Transport successful", the Redbone declared proudly.

Dante nodded. The first part of their mission was a success. But this wasn't over yet. Since he had been sighted by the locals, Dante began to wonder if they could keep this up. His biker look wouldn't last very long and neither would Madame Pershaw's. They would have to change their looks and soon. Before too much of this "mystery agent" thing got too much attention.


	5. Chapter 5

Dudley now couldn't piece together what was going on with his life nowadays. This newcomer was really getting on his nerve. First he breaks into a research facility, then he's seen saving innocent people in need. Just who was this guy and what's his deal? Besides that, the day was pretty much the same as any other. Keswick was in his lab working on a scientific project, Kitty was taking leader lessons from Herbert, and Dudley was just doing his own thing. Just then the alarm went off and a screen revealed a fancy limousine pull into the driveway. Keswick instantly armed the security blasters( he did this in Mom-A-Geddon), then the side of the limo opened and a white paw rose up, clicked a little device, and then the blasters went away, and the screen went blank.

"We have a problem people", Keswick informed, "It would seem we're lo-lo-locked out of our security system."

Just then, the screen came back on to reveal the limo still there. Everyone still was on edge though.

"Now what was that all about?", Dudley asked himself( he just noticed).

At that moment, Dudley's phone rang(the one on his desk), so he answered it.

"Hello?"

"Agent Puppy? There's someone here to see you", the secretary said on the other end.

"Who is it?", Dudley asked.

Then, Dudley heard a ding as he turned to see the elevator doors open to reveal a white wolf a little taller than Kitty and wearing a fancy beige business suite( as though he just came back from a meeting with a board of directors or was on his way to one) with a black tie, his gray hair combed, with blue eyes that were penetrating and carrying a cane that came to his waist. Dudley and the wolf just stared at each other for a minute and then the wolf spoke.

"Well? Aren't you going to say hello?"

"Do I know you?", Dudley asked him, obviously cautious.

"It's on the license plate of my car", the wolf answered pointing over to the screen.

Dudley turned and after careful examination, saw the plate which had only one word: DAD and then turned back to the visiting wolf.

"Dad?"

"Yes.", the wolf answered instantly turning as sunny as bright summer day, "So how have you been these years?"

Kitty had already entered the room from her training with Herbert and had just noticed the white wolf. She then turned to Dudley as the wolf walked over.

"Who's this?", she asked Dudley.

"Oh of course.", the wolf answered, "Where are my manners? Please allow me to introduce myself."

He pulled a business card out of the front pocket of his suit and handed it to Kitty which she took.

"Donnagon Puppy. President and CEO of City Capitalization Inc."

"No way", Kitty said completely in surprise, " Not THE Donnagon Puppy. The world famous business man. Imagine, the visitor today is Donnagon Puppy."

Keswick had walked over and had done a scan on Donnegan and after several seconds, he turned to his fellow agents who watched and waited for what he was going to say.

"That's funny. According to my scanner, Donnagon should be fifty-six years old. But he la-la-luh-looks like he's thirty years exactly."

"Really?", asked Dudley who then turned to Donnagon, "Dad, how did you manage to stay so young?"

"I have my sources", Donnagon answered as he looked around and then he walked over to a screen showing the Tuffmobile with Dudley following him.

"You're kidding me. It's still here?!"

"Dad, you know my car?"

"I don't just know it. I'm the one who built it. This old gal loves to roll. Always having a need for the fast lane. And judging by those scratches on her frame, it's taking it's toll."

Herbert, overhearing voices, came in from his office.

"Okay agents what's going..on..in..here?", he asked as Donnagon and Dudley turned and walked his way.

"Herbert 'Small Fry' Dumbrowski.", Donnagon said with a sly smile on his face, "Remember me?"

"Well, well. If it isn't ex-agent Puppy.", Herbert replied bitterly.

"Chief, you know this guy?", Kitty asked him.

"Oh Small Fry and me are old friends.", Donnagon told Kitty still smiling.

"Acquaintances.", Herbert corrected, "What are YOU doing here?"

"Visiting family Small Fry.", Donnagon answered.

Dudley however was also smiling and by the look on his face, he was trying very hard not to laugh. Kitty however looked at Herbert with anticipation.

"Small Fry?"

"Yes, Donnagon's nickname for me back in the day was Small Fry.", Herbert admitted.

Just then, Dudley was on the floor banging his fists and laughing like a maniac.

"Dudley!", Kitty instructed, "It's not that funny."

"You-you're so right.", Dudley answered her chocking on his giggles, "IT'S HYSTERICAL!"

And he laughed even harder while Herbert eyed Donnagon who still hadn't changed his smile.

"Just like old times eh?"

When Dudley finally calmed down( and believe me it was more than five hours worth), he turned to Donnagon and then noticed Donnagon's cane. It was polished oak and at the top was a large diamond like gemstone that sparkled whenever it moved.

"Wow, nice gem Dad."

"Yes.", Donnagon answered in pride, "It's been in my possession for..for a very long time. It's the only one of it's kind on the whole planet. This gem and my cufflinks, are the only known Archean gems there is."

He showed his cufflinks which were the same kind of gem as his cane's top. Then he turned to Dudley.

"You know Dudley, why don't we spend the day together. Just the two of us?"

"Actually", Herbert objected, "Agent Puppy has some work to do so-"

"I'd love to spend time with you Dad", Dudley interrupted.

"Excellent then", Donnagon said jovially, "Shall we depart?"

Dudley was already racing toward the door with Donnagon following behind him, but Kitty was eying Donnagon suspiciously. He looked okay, and he sounded nice, but something about him just seemed too good to be true. But what? As Donnagon and Dudley left the room Donnagon looked back at Kitty with a different smile. This time, it looked dark and menacing. It was only a second, but she got the whole experience. But still, Herbert, Keswick and her had to find out why crime was so low. So they went back to work, although Herbert kept muttering to himself under his breath for some reason.

At this time, 03 and 04 had still been targeting pedestrians. By the look of things, they had completed the major parts of their mission. Then their phones rang again and they answered.

"Are the targets set?"

"Yes sir.", they answered in unification.

"So much for the marking. Commence the second phase. The "special replacements" will be waiting at the designated area. Keep yourselves undercover, and do not allow any passerby to see you."

"An if they-", 03 started.

"Do?", 04 finished, "Then what?"

"Dispose of them. Over and out."

And their boss hung up again and 03 and 04 were once again on their motorcycles and speeding off down the streets and passing many buildings until they arrived at an old laundromat which looked like nobody used it in years. After going around the back and parking their cycles, they dismounted, and entered through the back door and closing it behind them.

Dudley had never had such a wonderful day in his life. First Donnagon took him to the park where they played Frisbee for a couple hours, then they had lunch at a very fancy picnic area, and right now, they were lying on the hillside watching clouds roll by. Dudley had drove the Tuffmobile so you know. Donnagon's limo was returned to where he rented it( he didn't say where) so that's why they got Dudley's car.

"Hey Dad, I don't want today to end ever!", Dudley declared proudly.

"Yeah, but all good things come to an end eventually son.", Donnagon reminded him, "But rest assured, I'm always around if you need me. Hey, how about I take ya to Dessert Island to see who can chow down the most sugar before they get a sugar rush?"

"You're on Dad.", Dudley answered.

Dudley and Donnegan made their way back to the car, but Dudley got on the passenger's side.

"Um son? What are you doing?", Donnagon asked him.

"Dad, I want you to drive this time."

"Me?", Donnagon asked as he got into the driver's seat and started the ignition.

"What's wrong? You never drove before?"

"No son. I have, but.. it's just been so long since I actually drove this old girl."

And before Dudley could say anything Donnagon hit the gas and with a roar, the Tuffmobile was off like a shot. Dudley knew his car was fast, but THIS was beyond fast. And though Donnagon may have said it was a long time since he drove, you wouldn't know it. With all the fancy ways off driving( such as driving the car sideways, driving on the walls, and jumping obstacles) Donnagon seemed like he drove cars like this one for ages. After about a few minutes of driving like this, they were soon in front of the Dessert Island joint.

"So, how did I do?', Donnagon asked Dudley who was looking really spellbound.

"Just dandy."

Donnagon got out and after making his way to the Dudley's side, helped him out. Dudley then pulled himself together and entered the front doors with Donnagon following.


	6. Chapter 6

Back at TUFF, everybody was working around the clock. Somehow pedestrians were starting to go missing one minute and the next, they're back doing their normal lives all over. Keswick had just started on improving the base's security measures, and Herbert had concluded his training with Kitty. Everything seemed okay until Dudley arrived through the elevator looking both relaxed and rejuvenated. Herbert hopped over and landed on Dudley's desk as Dudley made his way to it followed by Kitty.

"Hey Agent Puppy, how did you and...Donnagon's time go?"

"Oh Chief, it was heavenly", Dudley sighed as he slid into his chair, "Dad is kind, caring, always there for me, and he definably knows how to have fun. He's got this mood so calm, his eyes so full of love, and his smile was just amazing. He was right on what he told me when we left. There really is nothing like quality time between father and son."

Kitty, who had been listening, started to look a little confused. Did that look she saw on Donnagon's face for real, or was it due to her overworking? She couldn't help but feel that maybe Donnagon was too good to be true. Could anyone be this caring, devoted, and loving? Herbert however was even more concerned.

"Dudley, Donnagon didn't say anything about us, did he?" he asked Dudley.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that Donnagon might cause a bad influence on you if you spend too much time with him so I think that-"

"Wait a minute", Dudley blurted out, "Chief, you're not trying to come between Dad and me are you?"

"Hey, you don't know that dog like I know him", Herbert claimed, "He was the worst agent we had. Always doing things for himself and shunning all of us like we were nothing to him."

"Oh come on Chief, people can change."

"Oh yeah", Kitty pointed out, "Like that one time you told me that same thing when Snaptrap did nice things for us just to rocket us into the sun?"

"Dad is different", Dudley declared as he lifted from his chair, "Dad invited me to dinner tonight so we could have a chat and a fancy meal. Then I'll prove that Dad isn't who you say he is."

"You're having dinner with HIM?!" , Herbert asked in shock, "You can't be serious."

"Oh really? I'm dead serious. And I'm going to that dinner even if you don't want me to."

With that, Dudley turned and walked away. Kitty then turned to Herbert.

"Chief, what did you mean by the way you know Donnagon?"

"Kitty, Donnagon did something so unforgivable, that I'll never forget it. Dudley may think Donnagon has changed, but I feel like Donnagon is using his image to do something to Dudley. But what?"

"Yeah", Kitty informed him, "I saw something in Donnagon's eye just when Dudley took off with him. Something so dark, and cruel that I felt like he was more than what he was showing."

By this time, Dudley was at the closet wondering what to wear. Even though he rejected pants, this was a special occasion. Just then, Kitty walked over as he was walking out and seeing her, paused a minute.

"Hey Kitty, you think Dad would like me better in formal wear or my usual black shirt?"

"Actually Dudley, I need to tell you something."

"What's that? It's not about Dad is it?"

"I just want you to be careful. I can't help but feel like this whole perfect dad thing is too good to be true."

"Hey, I ment what I said on having dinner with Dad. I've been with him all afternoon and if he was too good to be true, I would be the first to know."

Kitty sighed. Even though she knew that this was sketchy, once Dudley made up his mind, he would stick to it no matter what anybody said. Besides she had other things to worry about. This issue on the pedestrian disappearances and reappearances wasn't going to solve itself.

"Well, just try and keep your guard up. Don't always listen to what he says okay?"

"Why's that?", he asked her.

"Sometimes people say things that are not quite true, but seems like they are. Just giving some advice."

"Well, thanks Kitty. See you a little later", Dudley told her as he left for the door.

Dudley then drove home so he could freshen up. As he was coming down the stairs, Peg met him at the bottom.

"Hi honey, what brings you home?", she asked pleasantly.

"Oh, Dad's in town and asked me for dinner so I'm just freshening up before I go."

Peg's face instantly changed to a look of dread and horror.

"D-D-D-Don-Donnagon is HERE?!", she asked.

"Yeah, and he's really nice. That therapist who worked on him, they did a pretty good job."

"Dudley, you need to stay AWAY from your father! He's trying to-"

"Have time for me. Jeez Mom, now YOU'RE against me?! Why does everybody think Dad's a bad guy when he's clearly being Mr. Nice?"

Dudley walked to the door only to get blocked by Peg.

"Dudley, I can't let you meet him. Listen to me, Donnagon is not-"

"Going to be kept waiting?", Donnagon asked as he opened the front door and Peg slowly turned around and he looked her in the eye, "Hi Peg. Miss me?"

Peg screamed and bolted up the stairs(she runs pretty fast for an old lady) slamming the bedroom door behind her. Donnagon turned to Dudley who looked back at him with curiosity.

"She's so excited to see me. You ready to go?"

"Sure thing. Where's the place we're eating?"

"Oh don't you worry about that son", Donnagon assured as they walked out to the Tuffmobile, "You'll know it when you smell it."

Dudley then decided to ignore everyone's opinions of Donnagon After all, he did show that he had changed his ways to him and that was good enough for him. Donnegan drove again and after several fancy driving examples, they parked near a very fancy restaurant Le Fancee. Donnagon had clearly dressed for the occasion. Now he was wearing a very expensive looking tuxedo with a colorful orchid. Dudley had decided to go the usual: wear a black shirt and nothing else before they went in and changed clothes in a nearby outhouse. The place definably had class. There were huge dining tables with white lace lined tablecloths, a fragrance candle and fancy flower bouquet in every table's center, waiters carrying orders from an open window revealing the kitchen staff cooking and cleaning, it even had a live band playing fancy dining music. Yep, the title of this place was on the money. After getting their seats, Dudley and Donnagon placed their orders and while the food was cooking, Donnagon decided it was time for chat.

"So son, did you enjoy our day together?"

"I sure did. Listen Dad, I was wondering if I could ask you something."

"Anything son. All you need to do is ask."

"Well, okay. Here's what's up, my fellow agents tell me I shouldn't always believe what you say. They also say you're not the jovial person I think you are. Is any of that true?"

"Son, in all the time we spent together, I would never deceive you. If you ask me, I think your fellow operatives are just being jealous because I am everything their not."

" Like what?"

"Accepting, charismatic, fabulously wealthy, exalted, passionate, and of course wise."

Dudley had listened carefully and he had to agree. TUFF wasn't really all that accepting of him during his first few years, but he managed to regain trust.

"Dad, I tried finding a new partner, but for some reason, my shenanigans cause them to avoid me. I know I can sometimes be annoying, and I do make bad decisions every now and again, but at least I try to make up for them, right?"

"Couldn't have said it better myself son."

Just then, Dudley and Donnagon's food arrived. Dudley had ordered the fancy ham, t-bone steak, and several plates of bacon( hey, could you blame him for passing on his meat?) with a large soda. Donnegan had placed for the special Fancee platter which consisted of a fine lobster broiled to perfection, a fancy salad, several salmon fillets, and of course a gold lined pomegranate bunch inside a gold goblet with a large bowel of vanilla ice cream with caramel ribbons and peanut butter chunks with a large glass of sparkling spring water. This dinner was the best food Dudley had ever eaten. Donnagon even shared his ice cream with him. Then Dudley remembered something.

"Hey Dad, I found this in TUFF's vaults and I was wondering if you could talk to me about it."

Dudley pulled the flash drive he found out of his shirt and placed it near Donnagon who had now a serious expression on his face.

"Oh yeah, my old soldier project. Tried to improve the arsenal so that we could put crime on ice. But unfortunately they thought it was too "unpredictable" so they pulled the plug and I had to drop it."

Donnagon noticed that Dudley had been watching him and he quickly changed his game face back to it's jovial look after seeing nobody had heard anything.

"Oh but that was long ago. Just look at me now. I'm rich and as free as a bird logically speaking."

He reached over, picked up the flash drive and pocketed it in his pants. Dudley figured that it would be safer with Donnagon than with him anyway. Shortly afterward, Donnagon paid for the dinner and as Dudley started up the Tuffmobile, Donnagon stayed on the walk. His ride would pick him up shortly.

"Remember son", he told Dudley before Dudley drove off, "it's our secret."

He patted his pants pocket and Dudley nodded.

"Thanks Dad, I owe you one."

As he sped off, Donnagon watched as he disappeared.

"You'll owe me one alright", he purred as his own limo pulled up and he entered it and drove away under a clear starry sky.


	7. Chapter 7

While most of Petropolis slept that night, an all too familiar Dante Swigger had made his way back to his place. He was now concerned because his "biker" look was getting a little old. So upon entering, the Redbone( who was still there of all places) was working on a laptop when he came near with more of the assigned things to "retrieve". He put it out on the coffee table nearby and turned to the Redbone.

"I'm gonna need a new look. I don't want anybody to suspect me of being too good for them."

"You got it.", the Redbone answered as he turned around and handed his friend a scanner like device.

Dante ran the scanner over himself and his malamute form shifted into the form of a gray hound. Then he fidgeted with his belt and his biker appearance faded and was replaced with shorts, a gray t-shirt, and red sneakers complimented with white socks. He also retracted his goatee, sideburns and mustache and his hair turned reddish brown and short. The biker had now become an athlete.

"Now, what name have I not used yet?", he asked himself.

"I got it.", the Redbone answered him snapping his fingers, "Matthew Garcia. Four time gold medalist of the Olympics."

"Nice. I'll work on my athlete voice later. Where's the lady?"

Then an orange cat walked in swishing her flowing black hair. She was wearing a white coat with a skirt that came to her knees, and white shoes. If it was anybody else, Matthew and the Redbone would have drawn fire, but they could tell it was a friend.

"Somebody mention me?", she asked kindly.

"Nice look. Using the nurse guise for the hospital retrieving?"

"You read my mind. Alicia Periwinkle is the name I chose. Nice athlete guise. Will these work?"

"For now. Did you get the items you needed?"

Alicia walked over and put her retrieved items on the coffee table next to Matthew's. The Redbone inspected everything and then after setting up the transporter, sent them on their way. He then turned to Matthew and showed his laptop screen.

"While you two were out, I did a little investigation, and get this, Matthew, you got a criminal reputation."

His screen had visuals of Matthew( who was Dante at the time) committing crimes and that worried Matthew. Alicia had already torn off the next piece of the list and had thrown it into the fire like she did the first time.

"Cobalt bars, hydro based panotron, particle accelerator, and a radioactive wave stabilizer. We're doing good so far, but it's not over yet.", Matthew declared as he turned to the Redbone, "Hey how bout we call you Otto for now?"

"Sounds good to me.", Otto answered him.

"Okay team, move out."

Meanwhile, 03 and 04 had finished their mission of "marking targets", and had now settled into a late night diner for some well deserved meals( hey they've been working round the clock and decided to take a breather). As their food arrived, the waiter gave them a look as he slipped a note onto their table. 03 and 04 did a quick look around to see if anyone was around. Nobody was so the unfolded the paper their waiter gave them which turned out to be a note with three words: Call the boss. 03 and 04 instantly set their communicators and the other end started ringing. Then, their boss picked up.

"You called us sir?", they asked in unification.

"Yes I did. After you finish your food there, I require you for a "special assignment."

"What's that boss?"

"Basically, it requires a very certain target that you've stalked for sometime now. He's almost at the ready. When I give you two the sign, you'll know what you need to do. Understood?"

"We live to serve-", 03 started.

"And obey, master.", 04 finished.

With that, their boss hung up and 03 and 04 went back to the hamburgers they ordered. When they finished, the waiter didn't give them a bill. Instead he handed them another paper that was folded just like the first one. It was another note but it had five words this time: Keep up the good work. 03 and 04 then turned, mounted their parked motorcycles, and sped off eager to get their "special assignment".

The following week was certainly one of the freakiest ones that TUFF had to deal with. First of all, there came the crime of somebody breaking into a crowded room and had several people butchered, then there came the crime where some computer parts got hijacked and assaulted the customers, and finally the crime where somebody sent several planes at the airport into a collision course. Besides that, the "mystery agent" had not shown up at any of them, and the victims that survived were so frightened their hair was on end, and they could barely talk at all. Kitty had never seen anything like this before. And at every crime, the were no clues that could help them crack this wave of crime. Where did these new criminals come from? She didn't know because she was also concerned about Dudley spending time with Donnagon. As much as she tried, she couldn't forget that smile she saw on Donnagon's face when he left. So dark and so..so something but she could not tell what. Keswick had tried to piece things together or at least make a new gadget that could help, but he often got carried away with other stuff. Dudley however was just as confident as ever. He was totally oblivious to what was going on and only thought about how much fun Donnagon really was. And now he wanted to do it again. Herbert was already pinning the blame on someone.

"Pedestrians in severe states of horror. Technology hijacked. Airplanes malfunctioning. This has got "Donnagon's guilty" written all over it."

"Oh come on chief, Dad is totally not guilty."

"Agent Puppy, I know that dog a lot better than you do and I say, he's guilty."

"Really, cause I clearly see that there's no evidence against him", Dudley told Herbert in a very strong fashion.

At that moment Dudley's phone rang(the one on his desk) and he answered it.

"Hello?"

"Guess who.", the voice on the other end said.

"Dad?", Dudley asked excitedly.

"Bingo.", Donnagon answered, "So you up for another day together?"

"I wouldn't miss it for the whole world. Hey, can we meet up at-"

"ABSOLUTLY NOT!", Herbert yelled as he hopped over, swiped the phone off Dudley's fingers, and hung up.

"Hey, what was that for?!",Dudley asked sounding annoyed.

"Agent Puppy, that man can not be trusted with-"

"I'll tell you who can't be trusted", Dudley interrupted, "somebody who's mean, who's selfish, who's ...who's like the bad guys I fight. And Dad is NOTHING like that!"

Herbert cringed. Dudley had yelled before, but it was nothing like this. This one was more sure and loud than the others.

"Agent Puppy, don't make me use the-"

"I don't care. And now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to investigate this matter."

Dudley walked away from a very surprised and shocked Herbert and headed to the open elevator doors. Herbert thought he was going to leave, then he remembered Dudley liked to push all the little buttons so the problem took care of itself as the doors closed and the sounds of button pushing came from the other side. Herbert hopped back into his office as Kitty(who had watched the whole thing) stood there puzzled. Dudley was always a little hard to convince, but convinced enough to shun the chief of all people? That was one thing Dudley wouldn't do so harshly. Kitty even had Dudley go through that new list of possible new partners for Dudley, but it just didn't work. Just like the first time, the other replacement agents either fled or quit the very second they were partnered up. She knew that finding Dudley a new partner was hard, but not THIS hard. She need to get to a place where she could think and her soon to be new office was the only place she could think of. When she got there, she noticed a very formally dressed rabbit waiting for her. It was Kitty's ex-partner Jack Rabbit and when she saw him, she instantly attacked. Jack managed to hold off Kitty's attacks til Herbert broke them up.

"At ease Kitty. Jack"s a friend."

"Friend?!", Kitty asked.

"Yes Kitty, now that you're the new chief of TUFF, I can reveal my real job to you."

"Real job?"

Jack turned to Herbert who understood what was going on so he hopped out of the office so Jack and Kitty could be alone closing the door behind him. With him gone, Jack then assured Kitty to relax.

"I'm not really retired Kitty, I'm undercover", Jack explained showing his badge to her.

"TRIPLE Agent? What's that?", Kitty asked him as she read his badge before he put it away.

"I'm part of TUFF that's called the Troop Retrieving Intel Purposely Leading to Enemies brigade. It's our job to go behind enemy lines gather information on what they know or up to, then deliver it to TUFF."

"Really? What about that time you tried to drain my brain?"

"A few pots and pans welded together, some L.E.D. lights, and a sound disk."

"The time you downloaded data on every TUFF agent in the world?"

"A quick scroll down with the mouse and an already full flash drive."

Kitty couldn't believe it. A secret part of TUFF even she didn't know about. Why had Herbert not explained this to her and Dudley? Were they not ready to face the truth? Then the elevator stopped dinging and Jack knew what was coming next.

"Listen Kitty, promise you won't tell Dudley? I'm trying to stay undercover."

"I promise Jack", Kitty assured him, "Good luck with the retrieving."

"Thanks", Jack answered as he opened the office window and climbed down the fire escape.


	8. Chapter 8

2 weeks later..

Kitty was in her office trying to piece together everything. She knew all too well that her job came first before her own opinions, but she couldn't stop wondering. If Jack was a TRIPLE agent, why didn't he tell her when she was working with Dudley? And those times he targeted her were just a show, but for who? All this time, Dudley had been hanging out with Donnagon as usual, and even though Herbert tried preventing it, one way or another, Dudley found a way around it( like he normally does). And as much as Kitty wanted to intervene as well, she had other things to worry about. She remembered all too well that being the new chief of TUFF ment she had to focus on everyone who was working for her and not just one person. Just then, Dudley's phone rang( the one on his desk again) and Herbert wasn't around this time so Dudley knew it was safe to answer.

"Hello?"

"Hey son, you up for yet another play date?"

"Dad, my old boss claims that I favor you over my job. Is that true?"

"What do you think?"

"Well..I do trust you even though everyone else doesn't."

"Then there's your answer: you favor me. Why don't we talk over lunch?"

"Sure thing Dad.", Dudley answered and as he hung up, Herbert hopped over and landed on his desk.

"Who was that Dudley?"

"Uh..nobody", Dudley answered trying to look innocent.

"Really?", Herbert asked raising an eyebrow.

Just then a car horn honked outside and Dudley knew exactly who it was.

"Well, there's Dad again."

"You're going to spend the day with him AGAIN?!", Herbert asked in shock, "Dudley, he still hasn't said anything..sketchy, did he?"

"Chief, Dad would never do such things. Why is it you still don't think Dad has changed his ways?"

"Dudley, your dad is not what he seems to be. I know for a fact that-"

At that moment, the elevator dinged, and the doors opened to reveal Donnegan all jovial and ready to go.

"Hey Dudley, I've been waiting for the past five minutes."

"DONNAGON?!", Herbert screamed as he whipped around fast, "What are YOU doing here?!"

"What? I'm just picking my son up so we can spend the day together."

"Actually, Agent Puppy's very busy today with paperwork so he can't spend the day with you."

"Oh that's too bad. I was thinking of taking Dudley to Dessert Island to see if he can beat me at who can eat the most sugar before he gets a sugar rush again. I'm still the best."

That was all Dudley had to hear.

"That settles it, I'm spending the day with Dad."

And before Herbert could stop them, Dudley and Donnagon were out the door, in the car, and driven out of sight.

Kitty at this time was now working on some evidence that her newly discovered TRIPLE agents have provided her( mostly Jack). Now it was starting to make sense on where TUFF got it's information before a crime was committed. As she was going through some files when something caught her eye. It was Jack's original record. According to it, Jack's new post was in secret from everyone except the chief who was assigning the position. So Jack was probably dispatched to keep a close eye on someone really bad. Still, Jack was doing a good job of it. And by dispatching agents to specific posts, she was doing her job rather well.

"Jack, have you been working with me even after we split?", she often asked herself.

While this was going on, Herbert had hopped in and landed on her desk.

"Chief, what's wrong?", Kitty asked seeing he looked upset.

"Agent Puppy's spending another day with Donnagon again. What does it take to split these two up?"

"Why are you so concerned about Donnagon?"

"Kitty, I know that man's true colors, but Dudley still refuses to see past his exterior form. Donnagon can't change. He just can't."

"Chief, we can't force Dudley to see the truth, he needs to figure it out on his own."

"Who told you that?"

"I learned that when I was working with Dudley."

Kitty knew Dudley better than most people and she knew that. And these new crimes that were arising were keeping her on her toes.

Dudley at this time was spending another glorious day with Donnagon. First they went for a surf lesson at the beach. Even though Dudley never surfed before, Donnagon was the perfect instructor for him. The skies were blue, with hardly any clouds in sight, the beach was clean, and the pleasant breeze was the perfect installment. After that, Dudley and Donnagon then dried off, and were in the car again.

"Hey Dad, I never knew what a wonderful surfer you were."

"You could say I get my exercise when I work on my job", Donnagon answered as jovial as ever, "By the way, you didn't mention the "special secret" did you?"

"No Dad, I didn't say a thing."

"Perfect. Say how about a little ball?"

"Tossing a tennis ball? Been there, done that."

"Not the way I play", Donnagon told him giving him a sneaky smile.

At the park, Donnagon showed Dudley how to really play a ball game. Donnagon tossed the ball, Dudley chased the ball, and the ball kept spinning and turning and avoiding him. It bounced off the sidewalk, slid down ramps, got thrown into the air by water spouts, and rolled through construction sites. Although Dudley had chased it, he was bushed when he finally got back to Donnagon.

"Whew, that was some ball game Dad", Dudley said breathing heavily.

"Yep, gets the old juices flowing. Say, you want a fighting lesson?"

"Sure thing. Hey, watch this."

Dudley had walked over to an old brick wall and then punched it. A few pieces of the wall broke off, but the wall still stood.

"What was that son?"

"Puppy Punch", Dudley answered as Donnagon walked over.

"Let a pro show you how it's done", Donnagon instructed as he slid Dudley aside.

Donnagon then pulled his own fist back and paused a minute. Then with one swift motion, he punched the wall. At first, nothing happened. Then the wall shook, cracked, and fell as nothing but rubble.

"That", Donnagon said to Dudley as he turned to face him, "is a Puppy Punch."

Dudley was spellbound. How could Donnagon be that strong? Could that be on the flash drive that he now had? Donnagon noticed Dudley's puzzled expression, and thought up a cover up. And he thought one up quick.

"Well the day's still getting to the afternoon, how bout we have lunch,and you can tell me about what's going on at TUFF these days."

That sounded fair. Dudley and Donnagon stopped by a deli where they got hamburgers. Dudley got his with extra bacon. Besides that, the afternoon seemed to go by rather slowly. Dudley then decided to inform Donnegan about his problems.

"Hey Dad, can I tell you something?"

"Anything son. Just ask me."

"Well, here's the thing, I met this copycat who's been solving my investigations lately and that really annoys me."

"Really? What kind of copycat?"

"I don't know. Never got his name, but he's one heck of a crime fighter. Only now he just vanished and these new crimes show up."

"Well son, I'll say this: every day a TUFF agent must face the ups and downs of life. If your fellow agents want to ignore and replace you, you can try, but sooner or later, this new guy might get the spotlight."

Donnagon saw his words really hurt Dudley's feelings and he thought fast.

"Not to worry though, you still have time to prove this new guy doesn't have what it takes. If you can show you're not what your fellow agents think you are, then maybe they'll ignore the new guy."

That made Dudley feel better. Then had to use the bathroom so he headed to the nearest outhouse on the sidewalk while Donnagon stood by waiting.

"Enjoying your time with Dudley eh, D?"

Donnagon turned to see Herbert nearby and boy did he look mad.

"Oh, Small Fry. How much did you see?"

"I've seen enough considering I've been following you all day", Herbert answered rather harshly, "I know exactly what you're up to."

"What exactly do you mean?", Donnagon asked sounding hurt.

"Just hand it over!"

"Hand what over?"

"I think you know what I mean. I don't know what sick, twisted little game you're playing at, but I know for a FACT what you truly are! Dudley may be too stupid and short sighted to see past your outer looks, but I can see right to-"

"CHIEF!", Dudley screamed as he walked over.

Dudley had finished in the outhouse, but overheard every word that was occurring.

"For shame. How could you even threaten Dad like that?! He's trying to make up for all the times he didn't spend with me while I was growing up, and you're trying to keep us APART?! It's bad enough you've been spying on me and Dad, but THREATENING him is where I draw the line!"

"Dudley", Herbert said in surprise, "please listen to-"

"NO!", Dudley yelled, "You listen to ME! 'Don't believe a word he says', 'he's not what he says he is', IS THAT ALL I HEAR FROM YOU?! Dad is loving, caring, always there for me and proving he's changed his ways and YOU'RE NOT ACCEPTING IT!"

Herbert cringed while Donnagon just stood there in silence. Dudley had never been so cross. Just as Herbert was about to complain, Donnagon reached out and crushed Herbert under his hand.

"I believe we are done entertaining your company.", Donnagon answered as he lifted his hand and turned to Dudley, "Shall we?"

"Yes, let's.", Dudley answered with pride. And just like that, he flicked Herbert so hard, that Herbert hit a brick wall and made a dent while Dudley and Donnagon stuck their noses in the air and walked away in a very prideful like way.

"Well played son, well played."

Back at TUFF, Kitty was just getting some last filing in when Herbert rolled in. That blow really messed him up. Kitty saw this and almost screamed. In all the years Herbert had this job, he had never looked so beaten up before. He had to get to the medical ward immediately and she decided to escort him there since she was available.

"Chief, what happened to you?"

"Agent Puppy happened.", Herbert answered rather cross, "I try to get information out of his dad, even put up with his "antics" all these years, and even kept an eye on him, and he STILL takes his FATHER'S SIDE!"

Kitty couldn't believe it, Dudley would never hurt his fellow agents on purpose. True he's lied, manipulated, and even skipped work days, but this took the cake.

"Dudley did this?", she asked.

"Not just that, he refuses to listen to anything I say. I overheard Donnagon tell him one time that if he was still a TUFF agent, he'd deploy Dudley on solo missions just to boost his image. That was a downright dirty lie and he KNOWS it! But WHAT happens?! He plays with that man like their BFF's and they shut everyone else out or ignore them."

By this time, they had reached the medical ward and Keswick was there modifying the recovery equipment. Kitty helped Herbert into a bed while Keswick did a scan.

"Bad new everyone. The chief's go-go-gon-gonna be in here a while. Really bad damage too."

"He will recover won't he?", Kitty asked hopefully.

"Oh he'll recover alright.", Keswick assured her, "It's just gonna be slow."

Keswick helped Kitty bandage Herbert up while Kitty was in a fix with her mental thoughts. How could Dudley become so cruel and mean like this. Maybe Donnagon wasn't all he appeared to be. Was she so stupid to not notice it before. Why oh why didn't she spend more time focusing on Dudley when she could? Now he was slipping away and further away with each time. If she didn't do something fast, she would run the risk of losing her ex-partner.

"Oh chief, I'm the new head of TUFF and I don't know what to do", Kitty told Herbert as she started to tear up a little.

She hurt really bad to be crying like this and Herbert knew it. After being with someone for so long and losing them to somebody who's not at all nice. That would break any good agent's heart.


	9. Chapter 9

It took a while, but Herbert was able to get into a recovering state. As he wheeled around in a tiny wheelchair, Kitty thought it would be appropriate to avoid him until he chilled a little. He was still upset about Dudley after all. Herbert wheeled his chair over to Kitty's desk and with a little help, got up on it.

"Kitty, you need to find a way to get to Dudley out of Donnagon's influence range."

"How can we do that? Donnagon's been playing with him these past few weeks and he hasn't shown any sign of trickery."

"Playing with him, or playing him with temptation?"

"Temptation? Of course, didn't Donnagon say one time that a father knows his kids like the back of his hand?"

"I believe he did, this is how Donnagon plays people. First he'll start off with a friendly image, then when someone trusts him, he shows his true colors."

Kitty was now worried. If what Herbert said was true, Dudley was in grave danger. She had to find him, and fast. She didn't know what she was gonna do, but she had to try something.

"Where was Dudley last seen?"

"Last time I checked, he was heading out to think about what Donnagon was mentioning to him. But we can't wait for that. We need to find Agent Puppy NOW! Kitty, you're going to have to suspend your responsibilities as chief, and find your ex-partner."

"Got it", Kitty informed and was already down the chute.

Just then Herbert realized that Kitty forgot to help him back down off the desk. Fortunately Keswick was around, so he had the honor of helping Herbert back to the medical ward.

Dudley was now walking back to TUFF while trying to figure out what to do. Donnagon claimed he had some errands to run so he left early which left Dudley to walk home since they used Donnagon's car this time.

"Jeez, what's up with me?", he asked himself, "First I get denied a promotion I wanted really bad, then a newcomer comes along and steals my glory, then Dad shows up, and now I just hurt someone on purpose."

That last one made him feel pretty low. He sometimes hurt his boss physically, but those were accidents. Was being denied the chief's position all it took to make him do all this trouble? It seemed like the whole world was going wrong. At least he had somebody who understood what he was going thru though. Dudley didn't know it, but he had just wondered around near a lamppost and decided to pause a minute and think things over.

"Is there anything I can do to fix all this?", he sighed.

"Actually there is", a voice answered although it sounded like two people instead of one, "So we finally meet."

Dudley pulled his blaster out and cautiously looked around.

"Who's there? Who just said that?"

"Behind you."

Dudley turned around fast to see two German weasels wearing dark trench coats and wide brimmed hats with dark gray gloves and black boots. It seemed all their clothes were dark. As they slinked closer, Dudley tried to be brave, but somehow found it difficult.

"Who exactly are you?", he asked still holding on to his blaster.

"Byron Gemini", one said revealing to be male.

"Glacia Gemini", the other added revealing to be female.

"The Gemini twins", they said in unification.

"And what brings you here?", Dudley asked.

"We're operating for our boss who-" Byron started.

"Is very interested in you sir", Glacia finished.

"Me?", Dudley asked, "Why is that?"

"We've been watching you all week long", Byron started, "And we must say-"

"That we are quite surprised", Glacia added, "What if we told you-"

"Our boss could fix anything you could name?", Byron finished.

Dudley's caution started to wane. Could these weasels really mean what they say?

"Could your boss really fix anything?"

"Within reason", Glacia stated, "Although it is a suggestion and if you're-"

"Content with the way things are, then forget we said anything", Byron finished.

With that the weasels turned to leave.

"It was only a suggestion," they said over their shoulders.

Dudley now had gotten past his fears and now thinking of this opportunity. If this worked, he could have this copycat that was stealing his glory out of date, be the new chief of TUFF, and prove to everyone that he did have what it took to be the best.

"Hold on", he called and the weasels stopped and turned so that they could see him, "where do I meet you're boss?"

The weasels grinned devilishly as each pulled a small device from their pocket.

"Follow us", they said in unification.

They pointed their devices forward, and in less than a moment, a flaming red portal opened. The outer rim was lined with charred bones, and was very ominous to see. Dudley cautiously stepped closer and the weasels stood on each side.

"Just step through", they instructed.

With a gulp, and a breath, Dudley did with the weasels following. For an instant, Dudley felt like he was going through a large pipe and exited in a place that made his spine shiver. The place he now was in was dark with wild plants growing all over, such as thorn bushes, pitcher plants, and a lot of trees of all sorts. The ground was desolate and lifeless, and the air seemed to be chocked with ash. The smell of something dead filled Dudley's sensitive nostrils and he almost cringed.

"Yech! Where are we?"

"Where do you-", Byron started.

"Think you are?", Glacia finished.

"I have no idea. It's like it's a place of darkness."

"You're in Hades", the weasels answered.

"Hades? Is that what this place is?"

"It is, shall we proceed?", the weasels asked as they started walking down a charred path.

Dudley felt like he should be following so he pocketed his blaster, and followed the weasels. Hades was more evil than he realized. The skies were heavily shrouded in dark clouds that rumbled every so often with the occasional lightning flashes, but no rain fell. And the further the went, the more things he saw. Giant towers of pure iron with large spheres on top that looked more like eyes, mountains spewing endless streams of magma, and an enormous plain as bare as a desert. When they came near one spot near some trenches, the sound of moaning came up.

"Oh, mind the Wretched", Byron warned.

"They love to moan", Glacia added.

Byron and Glacia just walked down the path though without pausing, but Dudley saw something that made his stomach churn. Working tirelessly on the heavy gears, large mine carts, and stirring the massive cauldron which produced large bars of pure gold out of the side, were countless people moaning on end. Their hair was thin and bare, barely enough muscle to get their work over with, and their clothes hung on them in tatters and were bloodstained. Their skin was covered in open sores and some were leaking puss as well as pale enough they looked sick. Through some of their mouths, Dudley saw that their teeth were broken and rotting and their tongues were slit. Just then, one of them( a basset hound) reached over and grabbed his wrist. Dudley yelped. Even though this dog had him, it didn't assault. Instead it knelt before him and looked at him with the saddest, most miserable expression Dudley ever saw. Through it's moaning, Dudley could swear it was talking.

"Please sir", it wept, "just kill me so I can finally escape this horrible place."

Dudley now felt like he had to help, until a large spiked chain whipped out, and wrapped around the hound. And with a yank, the hound went flying away from Dudley and into a large very muscular rhinoceros wearing heavy leather pants, and a metal mask that covered the lower half of it's face as if it was rabid. But instead of hands, it had a spiked chain whip, and a serrated blade. Then Byron and Glacia showed up beside Dudley.

"Warden", Byron instructed, "return the-"

"Slave to his post", Glacia finished.

The warden gave a nod, then walked away dragging it's captive behind it. Byron and Glacia then turned to Dudley.

"Well, shall we move on?"

The rest of the way seemed to go without a hitch til they came to a huge castle. The towers so creepy, walls so high, and the whole place seemed to be made out of dark iron, just like the watchtowers Dudley saw earlier. The only thing was, the wall they came to had no door. How would they get in? Byron and Glacia just stood in front of the wall and lifted their hands forward.

"Open sesame", they called.

And then there was a rumble, and a door magically materialized on the wall and opened with a creak and crash. Byron and Glacia entered with Dudley cautiously behind them. Inside was very dark, but fancy. Fine rugs lined the floors, pillars of people in agony rose all the way to the ceiling where crystal chandeliers hung. Through the halls they went and somehow Dudley lost the weasels, but as he came to a double door near the end of a grand hallway, he heard someone.

"03, 04. Oh you two are so good at what you do."

Dudley slowly entered the a fabulous room where the weasels were on one end of the room where a large throne was and swooning on who was in it like they were pets.

"Oh, and I see we have a customer", the voice said again.

The voice was dark and ominous, yet inviting. The room was too dark to see, but as Dudley came nearer, he discovered that sitting on the throne was a black dog wearing a crimson trench coat, dark gray pants, and had glowing markings on it's skin with piercing red eyes and white hair that moved like fire.

"Do come near, dear friend. It's not polite to stand there staring."

The black dog lifted off his seat, and walked over to Dudley with it's thin spade tipped tail swinging side to side.

"Let me guess, TUFF agent Dudley Puppy. Here about a reputation problem and to get even with a copycat. Welcome."

Dudley hardly believed his ears.

"How did he-"

"00 knows all", Byron interrupted.

"And sees all", Glacia added.

00 made his way around Dudley and ran his sharp claws across face.

"So, is this how TUFF dresses nowadays? Of course I would know, Now then, my advice is this, if you really want that post you're after, you need to be deployed for solo missions more often."

"You can do that?", Dudley asked wondering.

00 turned and looked Dudley right in the eye.

"My dear friend, it's what I do. I can deploy you on missions to make you the agent TUFF only dreams it could have. Successful, exalted, and very rich as well. But know this: for my services, you give something to get something."

"What's that?", Dudley asked hoping it wouldn't be too much to ask.

"I'll take...your loyalty."

Meanwhile, Matthew was at his own place working on something serious. He had gone as a gambler, as well as a retired veteran. Both disguises had worked out for both him and his partner who had gone as a seamstress, and a shopkeeper. Otto had just transported the next batch of materials on the list and now they were down to the final part. If they could pull this off, the mission would be a success. Matthew was now in his Joseph Amber disguise and was now investigating his criminal acts.

"Otto, I couldn't have committed all this evil."

"I know that and you know that. I'm starting to think somebody doesn't want us to be on the same level as they are."

"Yeah", Joseph said, "somebody who doesn't want us to intervene."

Just then Alicia came in under the guise of her shopkeeper look: Mrs. Cobble.

"Hey guys, I just found out that Donnegan's in our midst."

"Really?", Joseph asked, "he's here?"

That got Otto going.

"If you ask me, Donnegan sent one of his goons to try to put a bad rep on you Joe."

"Indeed, this is something he would definably do. We'll just keep our guard up and our eyes open in case a certain "someone" gets ideas."

"Right", Mrs Cobble said, "just this last batch and we're done with our retrieving method."

"I'll keep in touch with this activity Joe", Otto assured as Joe and Mrs. Cobble got ready to prepare their next guises.

Joseph didn't show it, but he was getting most concerned. Donnegan only ment that trouble was brewing, and he needed to get this mission done all the sooner. Otherwise the consequences would be most severe. Not just to him, but to everyone else.


	10. Chapter 10

Back at TUFF, Kitty had just got back from her little search. She had looked for Dudley all over , Petropolis, and found him nowhere. Just as she was about to give up, she noticed a glitter near a trash can so she went to investigate. There, she found something interesting: Dudley's badge. How did that get there? She figured that Keswick could help her piece the issue together so she had returned to TUFF to get answers. Keswick ran a scan and sure enough it was Dudley's badge alright.

"Why would Dudley loose his badge like this?", she wondered, "It's not like him."

"Looks like Agent Puppy is just disappeared about a while ago", Keswick informed.

He pulled out a graphic display of Petropolis and located Dudley over the course of four hours back. Kitty observed as Dudley's TUFF signal flickered for a minute then vanished. Where did it go? Now Kitty was worried about Dudley's well being. What if someone had gotten hold of him and tried to annihilate him while she was busy with her errands? She was about to start a search party, but then found out it was quitting time. On the way out however, Herbert stopped her.

"Kitty, I think I have a plan. Dudley may not be willing to talk to me, but maybe he'll open up to you."

"Why me?"

"Because the way you two were together all that time through the ups and downs, you could come through for each other any day."

He had a point there. Kitty had no time to consider this, but now she was starting to understand. All those times that Dudley and her spent with each other were forming a strong bond between them. Maybe she could get through to him. Hopefully he'll listen to reason from her better than anyone.

"Okay chief, I'll try. I just hope it works."

"So do I Kitty. So do I."

The following day at TUFF, Kitty and most of everyone there was looking high and low for Dudley. It was near time for him to clock in and he was almost late. Kitty definably remembered the time that Dudley skipped over a year of work. Although he didn't mean to, the fact still stood that he would be in big trouble if something like that happened again. As Kitty made her rounds around TUFF, she decided to visit the snack bar for a quick bite. And who was there lounging on one of the tables? Dudley Puppy who looked very confident for someone who was almost late.

"Dudley?", Kitty asked as she walked over, "How did you get in here?"

"I came in early to get a heads up", Dudley said with a very smug smile on his face, "You should try it sometime."

"Uh Dudley, are you okay?"

"Never better", Dudley stated as he got off the table and dusted off his shirt, "I just met the most fantastic person that I ever could."

"Who was that?", Kitty asked him.

"Wouldn't you like to know", Dudley answered still smiling.

If it was anyone else, they would believe that, but Kitty knew Dudley and something about him was not right. Dudley knew something.

"Listen Dudley, I tried to find you cause-"

"What are you? My personal keeper?", Dudley snapped turning his smile into a dark look, "You think I can't make my own decisions? You think I'm below you? Were all those times we spent together pointless? Listen carefully to me Kitty. I don't need a babysitter to tell me what to do anymore. You're the new chief of TUFF? All the more reason you forgot about me. You should have considered my feelings, but no. Need to grow up DO I?!"

Kitty couldn't believe her ears. Dudley never talked back so viciously, now he spoke of that comment Herbert mentioned to her.

"How did you know about-"

"I'M NOT FINISHED YET!", Dudley yelled, "You think you're all that because you're mature and less...childish than me. IS THAT THE REASON YOU LEFT ME?!"

"Dudley, pull yourself-"

"NOT UNTIL I'VE MADE MY POINT! I don't need a new PARTNER anymore! I can handle crime myself."

"What?!", Kitty asked in shock, "But we look out for each other."

"I believe you mean WE USED TO! Now if you'll excuse me chief, I have a whole city to safeguard, with hey, my name on it."

With that, Dudley just walked away with his nose in the air and without looking back. Kitty couldn't believe it. This wasn't Dudley at all. Dudley was kind, loyal, a little bit on the challenged side, but was the very figure of TUFF. Now he was this selfish, stuck up dog who just wanted glory. What exactly happened to him last night?

Dudley was as bad as his word. No matter who tried to partner up with him, he rudely turned away and turned them down. And every time he caught someone "goofing off", he put his foot down and yelled to get those people to get back to work. Herbert noticed this and decided that he had seen enough. So he wheeled his tiny wheelchair over to Dudley's desk. Dudley was typing up some paperwork when Herbert got on to his desktop.

"Oh look", Dudley noted as he noticed Herbert on his desk, "it's Mr. Sneaky. Trying to ruin my day again are we?"

"Dudley, we really need to talk."

"You're so right. I'm thinking you need to explain to me why you didn't give me your old job and gave it to someone else."

"I wanted to talk about you. What happened last night?"

"I don't think I'll tell you."

"Dudley, as your boss, I order you to tell me!"

"I just met someone and he made an offer I couldn't refuse."

"Who was it?", Herbert asked but Dudley turned away.

"As much as I want to mention him, I have work to do. Now do us a favor and make yourself scarce."

"Hey, you can't talk to me like that!"

"I just did."

Kitty overheard this and walked over.

"Dudley, you're not yourself. This isn't you."

"You're right Kitty."

"Really?", Kitty asked hoping she finally got his attention.

"This is BETTER than me! This is new and improved me. And I'll prove it to you when the next mission comes up."

Kitty and Herbert couldn't believe this. Then, when the alarm went off, Dudley was instantly off his chair, and at the computer.

"Get this, we got another robbery on our hands. LOOK ALIVE PEOPLE!"

Agents bustled around while Dudley was already going down the chute to the Tuffmobile. Kitty worried about him, and even though she had responsibilities, she chased after him. By the time she got there, she found an extraordinary sight. Dudley was there with the thieves tied up alright, but standing near him were Snaptrap, Bird Brain, the Chameleon, and their underlings. They hardly looked like themselves. Besides the new muscle improvement, they had other features. Snaptrap, Ollie, and Larry had sharp claws, fangs and were wearing dark cloaks and iron bracelets. Their flesh was pale and they seemed to be infecting everything they touched. Chameleon had a bony spine across his back as his transformation suit seemed to be fused to his skin. Francisco was outfitted the same way with a height as tall as Chameleon. Bird Brain was looking younger. That sparked the memory of the time he harvested that rare flower in Kitty's mind. However now he was hovering with his usual henchmen (Zippy, Owl, and Bat) floating nearby. They all looked menacing and Bird Brain seemed to be keeping them in a formation like fighter planes. Dudley noticed Kitty and shot her a very smug smile.

"Well, how do you like my new team?"

"New team?!", Kitty asked.

"Yeah, they came with my new occupation. Snaptrap the Plaugebringer. And his harvesters, the reapers"

Snaptrap, Ollie and Larry instantly showed what they could do. After Snaptrap spread rot on a trash can, Ollie and Larry leaped forward and the can was cleaved in two.

"Chameleon, the living weapon. And his assistant, Francisco."

Chameleon and Francisco instantly shifted parts of their bodies into many weapons to prove Dudley's point.

"Bird Brain, the warrior. And his armada."

With that Bird Brain and his henchmen flew high, and then dive bombed nearby. Completely destroying a dumpster. Kitty had never seen such power. Dudley however looked as smug as he did when she noticed.

"Magnificent aren't they? If I can't be the best on TUFF, then I'll make my own agency like I did this morning. Where I'll be the best agent ALL THE TIME!"

Kitty was shocked. Dudley had changed alright. And this was no coincidence. Somebody was behind this and she wanted that someone to go down.

00 at this time was down in his citadel watching Dudley on his special stone. This was no ordinary stone you understand. It looked like a sphere of polished obsidian, but using dark magic, it was 00's eye to the world which allowed him to see many things. It was placed on a pedestal in the middle of his throne room. He had shown it to Dudley before. After assuring him that he could be the new chief of TUFF and the whole world as his tennis ball was brilliant. And all this talk of the newcomer taking his job and his friends forgetting about him? Genius. Now with TUFF out of the way, and focusing on Dudley, he was now able to put other things into motion.

"Oh, Agent Puppy you're too kind", 00 chuckled wickedly to himself, "You don't know it, but soon, I will make you're entire dream the worst nightmare you ever lived."

00 then walked to the other side of the room where several dark and small containers were placed on a table. He picked up a couple, then walked over to the stone again, and made a phone call which 03 and 04 answered.

"00 to 03 and 04. Everything's going as instructed. I'm sending you the next phase. Plant this "special delivery" underneath Petropolis. Await further orders."

"Aye aye sir."

00 then placed the containers near the stone, waved his hand over it, and a portal opened out of nowhere. He then tossed the containers he had through, then sent several more. After that the portal closed, and 00 went back to watching his little drama while pulling out a contract from his coat. Unfolding it, he scrolled down it and smiled malevolently as he came to the signature. Written in infernal ink, was Dudley's name.

"Yes Dudley, enjoy your little reputation boost while you can. Because in mere days, I'll deploy other missions for you to take that really get things interesting."

Now at this time Joseph Amber( now back in his Dante Swigger disguise) was making a round trip around Petropolis. His partner was gathering the last of the materials( he had delivered his earlier) and now he was on an investigation of his own. Ever since he found out that Dudley had started his own agency, he wanted to get to the bottom of this. First Donnagon shows up, then these new criminals partner up with Dudley? Things were getting out of hand. Just as his motorcycle was turning a corner, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed something. It was believe it or not 03 and 04. Before he could give chase, he got a phone call from Otto.

"Otto to Dante. The rest of the materials are sent. We'll now investigate what Donnagon is up to. Any ideas?"

"I'll inform you if anything comes up. Right now, I've got a couple of underworld bounty hunters to trail."

"Bounty hunters?"

"Yep it's 03 and 04. And if they're here, then he's not far behind."

"Understood. Mrs. Cobble is investigating as well. I'll let you know when things get interesting. I know this much, Donnegan's really starting to get things going."

"Yeah, I'll trail 03 and 04 for now. Keep an eye on Dudley. He might give something away. And if not, let me know what's going on with his reputation."

Dante then hung up, and started to trail his new targets. 03 and 04 were certainly major parts of the underworld and if they were being deployed, it had to be important. He also made sure he was a good distance away( don't want to give the enemy any idea that they're being followed). After following 03 and 04 for about twenty minutes, they came to an old sewer drainage pipe where 03 and 04 entered.

"What are you up to Donnagon?", Dante asked himself, "And why are these two bad eggs not doing some spying on targets like they usually are? Guess I'll find out soon enough."

Dante parked his own motorcycle and after having it take it's original cube form and putting it in his jacket pocket, he approached the pipe cautiously. Then after making sure that 03 and 04 had not seen him or for the matter, gave the thought of looking back, entered the pipe himself and continued his pursuit.


	11. Chapter 11

Dudley could not believe his fortune. With more than enough power in his new arsenal, he had brought crime to the brink of extinction, made a very believable appearance to everyone that he had more than enough potential for running a secret agency, and had his fellow TUFF agents all in the palm of his hand. Yep, things were looking up. Even though his new base was in an abandoned warehouse, his new minions had the place redecorated. While Bird Brain and his fellow fliers patrolled the perimeter, and Snaptrap and his harvesters practiced their fighting skills, Chameleon and Francisco were using their transformation abilities to reinforce the technology that they were provided with. Dudley looked at all Petropolis under his view and felt like smiling. Even though they did save people the way TUFF did, there was a catch: Dudley's agency charged people for their services. Sounds unfair, but in the business world, money was all anybody kept score off. TUFF was now low on agent activity. Even though Herbert had offered his minions and him TUFF jobs, Dudley stubbornly refused saying that if he was going to work for TUFF, he'd take Kitty's job. Triple his paycheck as well. Yep, with all this tranquility, who knew the easy way would be so nice? But that was about to end.

"00 to Dudley", a voice rang in his head, "Your heroic days are over."

Dudley turned fast to see 00 appear in a reflective surface on the wall.

"00?!",Dudley yelped.

"You may think you're hot stuff now, but now is the time for other missions."

"Uh.. what do you mean?"

"I'm saying that your exalted image is like an investment that grows, and keeps growing til it's all sold out. That day is now Dudley. Find FLOOP, and collect the payment they owe me."

"What if they don't want to?"

"If they don't WANT to?!", 00 sneered as he flew right out of the reflective surface and had his pointy nose piercing into Dudley's, "KILL THEM!"

"Kill?! Isn't that a little too mean?"

"That's the idea", 00 insisted still sneering as he walked a little ways away, "Someone doesn't pay their dues, they pay with their lives."

"I'm not killing anyone!", Dudley declared but found it hard to do so.

00 turned around with a devilish smile across his face.

"You don't have any choice. You're under contract remember?"

With that, 00 snapped his fingers, and Dudley instantly felt like he had lost control of his own body. Searing pain erupted throughout his whole body, and in the reflective surface, Dudley say his fur turn bushy, dark gray and his once short tail turn long and bushy. The dog Dudley was was long gone, and the gray monster wolf was in it's place, and it was out for blood.

Back at TUFF, Kitty was in her office looking both confused and worried. Herbert had recovered and had hopped over to comfort her, although it hardly did any good.

"Kitty? You okay?"

"How can I be okay, when my partner just SOLD HIS SOUL TO THE DEVIL?!", Kitty screamed as her eyes got all teary, "I knew Dudley would go bad, but not THIS bad!"

Herbert felt her pain. He knew all too well what that felt like. At that moment, Keswick radioed in to the office.

"Attention everyone, I'm getting intel that FLOOP is reporting in. Apparently someone really beat them up."

Kitty and Herbert checked the monitor and sure enough, FLOOP was there bruised, bleeding, and bones broken in several places. This was enough to get Kitty into a fearful state. What kind of monster would be so cruel and merciless to have committed such a terrible thing? Herbert saw the look on her face and instantly got the remaining TUFF agents on the line.

"Attention TUFF! I am officially declaring an all out search for Agent Dudley Puppy! Find him, and get answers!"

All of TUFF kicked into high gear immediately. They stopped lounging around and instantly were on the computers getting full city scans and pedestrian viewing angles. Kitty watched all of this and really hoped for the best. Deep in her heart, she knew Dudley wouldn't even think about going this far into evil without a proper reason or was tempted by someone. She had a feeling, but she could guess that Donnegan had something to do with this. At first she thought it was a feeling, now she was convinced it was more than that. As much as Dudley ment to her, she had to find him to be sure that she was right. FLOOP was taken into the medical ward for recovery so they could tell their story.

By now, Dante had gotten back to his own foothold and was consulting Otto and Alicia on his discovery. After following 03 and 04, he saw them plant some small devices on the sewer floor. At first he had no idea what they were until he caught a conversation they were having with their boss 00.

"The "special delivery" is now planted."

"Excellent. And with 01 under my sway, I've got this whole city exactly where I want it. I've already positioned the other "special deliveries" in all the cities that the Undercover Fighting Forces occupy. Once my army is complete, I'll have all of our enemies under my heel, and the world will be mine for the taking."

"01?", Dante thought to himself, "What's this have to do with him?"

"Soon, the planet will be OURS!"

03 and 04 laughed horribly, and as they finished planting the rest of the devices they were carrying, opened a portal, entered through, and vanished. Once Dante confirmed they were gone, he came out of hiding, and retrieved one of the devices. It seemed to be containing something, but what? He figured Otto would know so he left the way he came out and after assembling his motorcycle again, was off to the foothold. Otto had run a scan across the device and sure enough, it was a containing timed device with a Plague Organism egg inside. Dante and his fellow operatives were all too familiar with these. The Plague Organisms were mindless abominable creatures that acted like a virus. They didn't know who was friend or foe. All they knew was devour, murder, and multiply. Being bisexual, the Plague Organisms could reproduce at will and without mating. Having regurgitating the egg sacs, the eggs hatched almost immediately, and the whelps matured just as fast. Without something to blow their brains into oblivion, they would keep multiplying until the entire planet was nothing but a lifeless husk.

Alicia had gathered information on Donnagon and confirmed that he indeed had a part in this infestation. Now all that was enough to get Dante to call for back up, but that would be suicidal. Knowing Donnagon, Dante knew that to take him down, he needed something that could blow his whole image away and reveal the "real" him. Otto had analyzed the container and had it transported to Dark Wolf for special reasons. Now that they were awaiting further instructions, they figured of ways of keeping an eye on this 01 character. If Dante did know him, he kept that information hidden.

"You honestly think 01 can be what we need Dante?", Alicia asked him.

"Well if Donnagon is going to pull the big guns out, we better keep our guard up. Who knows what this 01 is able to do?"

"Good point", Otto agreed, "My recent scanning is showing a surprise increase in activity on criminal side of things. And it's not good activity."

"Well, we best get a move on. Alicia and I will investigate the matter. And Otto, figure out how to blow these Plague Organism egg containers to rubble."

"Understood", Otto answered and was already on his laptop while Dante and Alicia made their exit and were on the move.

Kitty had never felt so worn out. After this occurring string of strange crimes being committed, she was trying to piece together everything. First some visiting Russian architect had been ambushed, a hazardous waste disposal ship had been raided, and now collection of enormous glass cylinders had been stolen from a glass making factory. And now she found out something else. Each of these crimes had been the cause of Dudley's new minions and this new dark gray monster wolf that accompanied them. Was this another one of Dudley's new minions or was he something else?

"Jeez, what does this all mean?", she often asked herself.

After going through the paperwork, she got a report from FLOOP. Apparently they were minding their own business when out of the blue, a very mean and violent wolf showed up and demanded they pay their dues. Since they refused, this wolf attacked and was quite the fighter. Before the wolf could finish them, the cops had shown up and he had to make a retreat. Fortunately for them, the cops were nice enough to give them a lift if they cooperated. After hearing this, TUFF decided that no arrest would be made, so FLOOP got off with a warning.

"Come on Dudley, I know you're out there somewhere", Kitty said to herself, "And when I find you, I'll bring you back, have Keswick do a full reasonable scan on you, and we'll soon have everything back to normal again."

It could have been part of her subconscious, but she could have sworn she heard Dudley's voice agreeing with her. She didn't know why, but now she felt like she had lost a best friend. Maybe she would be better off if she had not gotten Herbert's job. But as she remembered, the rules were the rules. But that doesn't mean she could appoint someone else to take the position for her, did it? She got out a copy of the TUFF rulebook and scanned it over.

"Let's see.", she muttered, "Can't shirk work for over two years, no using your spy skill for personal gain, no prolonged fighting on the job, ah, here we are."

She had made her way to the center of the book and found what she was looking for.

"If the new chief of TUFF is in anyway feeling overwhelmed or thinks they don't have what it takes, they can give their position to someone else as long as the former chief is not decommissioned."

Well that certainly got her in a state of thought. Then she looked over the occurring crimes and something else got her eye. Sticking out from under where the rulebook stood, was a very old looking paper. After retrieving it, she put the book back and unfolded it. What was on the paper made her nearly pass out. She instantly got Herbert on the line and informed him to meet her immediately. Herbert was there in a jiffy.

"Yes Kitty, you got intel?"

"No chief, look at this", Kitty in formed placing the paper she found on the desk.

Herbert looked at it and he turned to Kitty fast.

"You don't think that Agent Puppy could have?"

"I think I know why those things were stolen. Somebody's rebuilding Donnagon's old laboratory to recreate his research. But as long as that data is safely on a flash drive in the back of the vaults, there's nothing they can do."

"Unfortunately, Agent Puppy got into those vaults and got the drive Kitty."

"Dudley FOUND the FLASH DRIVE?!" Kitty screamed, "What did he do with it?"

"I told him to get rid of it, but something tells me he-", Herbert started than snapped his fingers, "He gave it to DONNAGON!"

Now Kitty was starting to panic. If Donnagon had that research, who knows what could happen. Say, didn't something like this happen before? She ran to the TUFF database on the chief's computer and pulled out a file and she now looked horrified. She had to get the city secure and fast.

By now, Dudley had made quite a display of menacing proportions. Now his reason had gone up in flames and now he gained pleasure of just watching people get injured by his own hand. His minions added spice to it, and he was loving it. But inside, Dudley was in total shock. 00 had lied and was now using him to make himself look like a secret agent gone rouge, and it was working.

"Nah, what do I care", he thought, "I don't need them. Not Kitty, not chief, not Keswick. And not even Mom?!"

That last comment was NOT his own thought. Mentally, Dudley tried gaining control of himself again, but his minions saw this.

"Remember.", Bird Brain instructed, "We belong to him."

"But, I don't want to do this anymore.", Dudley strained to say.

The more Dudley tried to regain control, the more pain he felt. It was like being in an armor that was fused to his fur, and was getting hotter by the second. And then, 00 appeared in a flash of fire.

"I told you that you don't have any choice 01. And besides, it's not like TUFF is going to take you back after what you said to them."

00 had one of his hands in a pinching like state. The tighter he pinched, the more pain he inflicted. And Dudley's minions just stood there in silence.

"00 stop the pain, please.", Dudley moaned.

"I can do this all day.", 00 answered ignoring Dudley's plea, "And unless you want me to kill you, you will do exactly as I command."

00 released his fingers, and Dudley's pain faded away. Slowly faded away. As Dudley lay in agony, 00 stood over him.

"It was all in the contract, 01.", 00 informed him as he pulled out a paper from his coat and showing it was Dudley and 00's agreement, "I would make you the chief of TUFF, and all you had to do was hand over your loyalty."

Dudley just looked up at him in a very annoyed and accusing look.

"You..you tricked me."

"What gave that away?", 00 asked very smug, "The temptation, or your limited IQ? Face it 01, you can't outsmart a genius. And if you wish to endure the pain I just inflicted, continue to defy me or you can do as you're told. Your choice."


	12. Chapter 12

Kitty was on patrol around Petropolis and getting pedestrians to safety. Or at least she was trying to, but some people would not come quietly. A little more than she was used to, but still. As she had made her way past the T.V. Store, she caught a special news report by Spitzer.

"This is Wolf Spitzer with an emergency broadcast. Former TUFF agent Dudley Puppy: secret agent turned super villain, has been seen committing extraordinary crimes."

The screen showed a dark gray wolf like dog committing a lot of bad things as Spitzer narrated.

"From, assaulting innocent people, to terrorizing landmarks, the once benevolent dog we used to know just may have been turned to evil. I'm Wolf Spitzer, and I think I'm speaking for all of Petropolis when I say: Agent Puppy is on the most wanted list of TUFF. Although they have tried, Agent Puppy has been seen here mercilessly assaulting without hesitation."

Kitty hardly believed this. That monstrous wolf, was Dudley? The Dudley she knew was fun, lazy, and a little childish. This dog was mean, selfish, vicious, and very very dark gray. Now she was convinced that Donnegan was evil. Being around Dudley most of the time, who knows what went on between the two? Whatever Dudley was, it was not what he normally was.

"With that in mind",Spitzer continued, "Petropolis citizens are advised to get to safety and stay clear of this dog. I'm Wolf Spitzer, and we'll soon be back with more updates as we get more coverage of this story."

With that, Wolf's report went to commercial, and Kitty was now having severe inner turmoil. She wanted to get Dudley and make him suffer for the crimes he committed, yet at the same time, she wanted to get an answer on why he went this bad. Whatever the reason, Kitty knew what she had to do, and was on her way to TUFF HQ.

Dudley on the other hand, was now taking a breather back at the abandoned warehouse his minions and him were at. Chameleon saw that Dudley looked conflicted so he thought it would be best to remind him of his issues.

"So, 01, what do you think is the next bad thing 00 is going to deploy you for?"

Dudley just shrugged.

"Chameleon, I first thought this was going to help, but now it's hurting people."

"That's the idea. And you do remember what 00 said, don't you? We do as he says or severe pain will follow."

"Oh don't remind me", Dudley cringed.

Dudley looked down at the black tattoo on his left arm. This was his mark that symbolized him as 00's obedient servant. It started out as black silk, then it was literally stitched thru his fur, and into his skin which was extremely painful I might want to mention. Chameleon saw that Dudley's state of conflict would eventually fade, so he went back to practicing his combat techniques with Snaptrap. Dudley was now having second thoughts on his deal with 00. His familiar foes that were not working with him were scared of even coming out of hiding, his fellow agents now labeled him a wanted criminal, and all ordinary people rejected him. What else could go wrong? Beating people into submission he could live with, but killing people, that he wanted to drop entirely. Just when he was about to give up, Bird Brain flew in.

"01, I've gathered intel, that TUFF's on the move."

"Really?", Dudley asked, his darker persona now taking over again, "What do you got?"

"From what I've gathered, Kitty's in a real mess. Having to keep TUFF from falling apart, prevent pedestrians from panicking, and us from doing things that are bad. That could make any mind spin."

"Yeah, I know it would make my mind spin. Hey, you have we not intimidated so far?"

"Well according to our records, we've terrorized mostly everyone who used to try and eliminate you sir."

Dudley thought for a minute. Then Bird Brain saw he needed a minute so he flew off back to the observation desk where Larry was checking for TUFF activity as well as any other activity for that matter. Just then, the alarm went off, and 00's image appeared on the screen.

"Greetings, boys."

Dudley's dark ego instantly took hold as he stood in front of the screen with his minions following.

"We were just about to mention you 00. Your ears must have heard us."

"My ears hear many things 01. It comes with the infernal power I'm wielding."

"Oh, they're very nice looking too.", Snaptrap swooned.

"Spare the comments.", 00 sneered before turning back to Dudley, "So you boys up for another mission?"

"What's the objective this time?", Dudley asked harshly, "Another rumble? Intimidation? Complete destruction?"

"Actually, the gig is to head over to the game show studio, and give Quacky a severe case of mayhem."

The sound of that name made Dudley's face darken into a look of vengeance. Quacky had been his favorite show for a while until it was pulled, during that Dudley had been deceived into getting him some things he needed for a getaway while he took the fall. After several times of this, Dudley now wanted his head on a platter and his body fried and devoured.

"When do we start, sir?", Dudley asked coldly.

"You may start when ready 01. Oh and for the record, mind if you remind Quacky that he owes me a ton of dough for the times I offered a crime plan for him?"

Dudley's face turned a demonic smile.

"Love to."

Back at TUFF HQ, Kitty had put together several search parties to be deployed. While the others worked on monitoring the city activity. Kitty knew she still worried about Dudley, but now she had to act so she wouldn't seem like she was covering for him like she used to when he worked with her.

"Listen up everyone, as your new chief of TUFF, I hereby decree a state of search. Our target is Dudley Puppy and after several long days of waiting, I can't ignore it no longer. Today, we will get our answers to why all this is occurring and Dudley may know."

Her audience applauded her and she waited til they settled before she started again.

"Be warned though, his new minions pose a threat. You may think they are easily taken down, but they are no longer the foes we knew. They are unfeeling, uncaring, and unable to be reasoned with. We can not allow this madness to continue. In the name of TUFF, and all the good people of Petropolis, best of luck. Now, DEPLOY!"

Her audience instantly scurried about, gathering their equipment, outfitting their vehicles, and driving off into the streets. Kitty watched all this and was approached by Herbert.

"Kitty, you only did what you needed to do. I know you still feel for your partner, but he's not your partner now. We need to bring him down."

Kitty nodded. Even though she felt like Dudley wouldn't sell himself out like this, she had to put all that aside. If she put her feelings before her duties, it would lead to her downfall. She learned that the hard way a lot of times. She held her bushy tail and remembered the time Dudley chewed on it. She could even feel the bite marks still not healed yet. Kitty then went to the old desk Dudley had to collect his things. If he wasn't going to be a TUFF agent, his stuff better go. As she put all his stuff away, she pulled up the photo of Dudley and her standing heroically over a defeated Snaptrap and that really tugged at her heartstrings. It was the days they had fun, had complications, even times they laughed together as well as cried. This was enough for her to get all teary eyed again. She then took a breath, wiped her eyes dry, and continued putting Dudley's stuff away. Then, she accidentally activated Dudley's phone's answering machine.

"Hi, you've reached a totally cool, secret agent named Dudley Puppy and his side kick Kitty."

"I'm not your SIDEKICK!" Kitty's voice rang out.

"Gotta go, leave a message, and I'll get to you."

While the phone beeped, Kitty just stood there sighing. She took the cleared out stuff to the vaults so she could lock it up. She didn't like it, but it was for the best. If she had no reminder of Dudley in her past life, she would focus on her duties. With a now heavy heart, Kitty placed Dudley's stuff in the vault, and slowly closed the heavy door.

Dudley and his minions were at this time walking out of the studio with a lot of dough( as in cash), their faces displaying pride and confidence, and their fists steaming.

"Now that was what I call a smack down boys", Dudley said with leader like pride.

"Yeah", chuckled Snaptrap, "Did you see their faces?"

"Man did they look confused", Chameleon added, "And when you told them who you really were? Priceless."

"At first, they tried to fight, and after they saw they were outmatched, they tried to flee. But with the training that we do, and the strategy we devise, they were on their knees in mere minutes.", Dudley boasted, "I can't believe I once trusted that pitiful, pathetic, and just plain short sighted duck. He thought I would forgive and forget, well guess what? Not his time. Not after what he did to me all those times before. Strapping me to a rocket, having me rob Fort Ox, sabotage my birthday, and even had the nerve to manipulate me into covering for them. At least now I don't hide my true feelings towards them. They were just annoying me anyway."

"Oh and don't forget the time Quacky had you destroy his fast food competition so his fast food joint was making the most bucks", Bird Brain added.

"Thanks, BB", Dudley answered (he called Bird Brain BB because it was shorter).

Just then, Dudley caught something in the corner of his eye. Not that he was surprised. It was the very malamute that he saw that one time and that had drove away his spotlight. Now he wanted to get even with this copycat. But before he could pursue him, Snaptrap tapped his shoulder.

"Sir, we got trouble.", Snaptrap informed as he pointed to the other side of the intersection where the were.

It was TUFF vehicles and they definably looked like they wanted to fight.

"Hold them off!", Dudley ordered, "I have a...score to settle."

Dudley bolted after the malamute while his minions stayed behind. Shortly there came the sounds of gunfire, as well as crashes, bangs and explosions. Dudley ignored them though. If his minions were as powerful as 00 assured they were, they could handle anything. After a short dash, Dudley found he had lost the malamute. He put his pointy nose to the ground and started sniffing around. After about a minute, Dudley stood straight up.

"Come out, whoever you are.", he demanded, "Afraid of me?"

"Not on your life!"

Dudley turned fast to see the malamute assaulting from behind. Dudley quickly put a guard stance up and managed to evade the tackle, then the malamute skidded to a halt as he turned to face Dudley straight in the eyes.

"State your name.", Dudley insisted.

"I'll tell you my name, when I beat you!"

That was where the real fighting started. With every move and exchanged blow, Dudley and the malamute kept up quite the display of combat. Even though the malamute was good, Dudley wanted to do better and his rage was insisting on being used. After a quick flip back, Dudley conjured a fireball in his hand and hurled it at his enemy. The malamute evaded it, but the explosion the fireball caused was quite a bang. Dudley's fireball were being fired by a special fire shaping device in his palm. By drawing oxygen from the surrounding area, the device used special underworld tech to ignite a sphere of flaming sphere which could be used as a form of attack. But the malamute had tricks too. While Dudley hurled fireballs, he hurled lightning bolts using similar tech that relied on static electricity. And when they got close, they used close combat. And that was quite a workout. As it looked like they were matched almost evenly, the malamute slipped. Dudley then used a flip and a quick jab to finally send his target into the wall. Panting and sweating, both dogs stood and looked the other in the eye.

"So you've been working on combat as well have you?"

"You're quite the adversary yourself", Dudley countered.

"Well, by the look of things, your minions are going to call you and inform you that more TUFF agents are on the way."

Dudley was about to counter that comment, when his communicator rang. Sure enough, it was Snaptrap informing him that more TUFF agents were on the way to their location.

"Darn it", Dudley sneered as he looked his target in the eye again, "We'll finish this some other time. Count on it."

With that, Dudley turned and ran to assist his minions, but the malamute stood there.

"Name's Dante. Dante Swigger", he muttered before he flipped over the fence and vanished.

The fight did not go unnoticed. Watching from the shadows, 03 and 04 had observed Dudley's battle.

"01 is quite the learner", 03 stated.

"Indeed", 04 added, "But who was-"

"That?", 03 finished, "Judging by the skill and the technique he just-"

"Displayed", 04 put in, "Our little renegade."

03 and 04 then mad a very special phone call to 00.

"This better be important."

"Sir, we have a problem", 03 and 04 informed.

"What kind of problem?"


	13. Chapter 13

Dante had made his way to a safe spot where he could use his Viacom communicator without being seen. That fight really took the wind out of him. Where did that dog come from? He had a hunch though. By the dog's looks and the black shirt he was wearing, it was Dudley Puppy. And he figured it was Donnagon who was behind this new look of his. Being familiar with Donnagon and as an ex-villain, Dante knew how the criminal mind operated. He'll get to details shortly. For now, he made a transmission. It took a couple rings, but he got someone on the line.

"This is Team Alpha leader to Dark Wolf. Come in Dark Wolf, over?"

"This is Dark Wolf, reading you. Status report."

"I just ran into a very familiar enemy of ours."

"Do they know our whereabouts?"

"Not that I know of, but TUFF agent Dudley Puppy has been ensnared by them. I should know, we just had a tussle."

"Disappointing, I hoped he would be able to resist. No matter, gather your team and report to safety extraction point. Keep a low profile, understood?"

"Perfectly. The enemy won't be ahead for long."

"Other than this piece of news, you've done well, our required materials are being assembled into the equipment we need to reinforce our...project. Keep up the good work, Dark Wolf out."

Dark Wolf hung up, and Dante reassembled his motorcycle and was speeding down the street. He also made a phone call to his fellow agents.

"I'll be right there", Alicia answered.

"Ditto", Otto's reply rang.

The news of the enemy taking root was disturbing to Dante. He was sure this was not the last time he and Dudley would tussle like this. He saw it. Behind that blood lust and anger, Dudley was a captive. A victim of Donnagon's temptation. And he needed help. Dante didn't know how, but he was determined to do just that.

At TUFF HQ, Kitty was more than brought low. Not only did her search parties find Dudley and his minions, Dudley almost desecrated the entire area. Most agents got out okay, the rest were severely injured and were recovering in the hospital ward. While most of the doctors were good, the ward was getting pretty crowded. This was really starting to stretch her day. First Dudley goes rouge by allying with super villains, then he causes major disruptions and now more property damage than he normally would. Just then, as it looked as though things couldn't get any worse, the mayor called TUFF.

"This is Mayor Teddy, I just got a visitor who looks pretty messed up. I'm sending him to TUFF for evaluation."

The screen went blank, and Kitty saw an armored car pull into the driveway. The doors opened to reveal two guard dogs carrying in a pedestrian( a beagle) who was looking pretty scared. Once inside, the guard dogs got their transported pedestrian into the medical ward( and believe me it was not easy), they left and Kitty examined the new edition to the ward. Keswick came to help out. This beagle looked as though he had just seen death itself. It's face was pale, his hair white, shivering, barely breathing and jumping at every small sound.

"What happened?", Kitty asked.

The pedestrian didn't answer.

"Where did you come from?"

Still no answer.

"What's your name?"

And still no answer. Just as Kitty was about to give up, Keswick remembered something. He reached into his lab coat and pulled a lighter out which he then handed to Kitty.

"What's this for?", she asked him.

"Kitty, the light will help calm him. Maybe he could relive the experience."

Now Kitty understood what he ment. Facing her suspect, she sparked the lighter and fanned the flame in front of the beagle's face. After confirming that she had the dog's attention( due to his eyes following the flame), she started to question again.

"Who are you?"

"David. David Grapple."

"Well David, where did you come from?"

"Petsburg."

"What happened?"

"They came."

"Who came?"

David sunk deep into his bed.

"Monsters. It was a massacre. There was death everywhere, and we were all screaming. This army came out of the earth destroying everything. I barely escaped with my life and then came to warn you."

"Of what?", Kitty asked( she was now getting scared herself).

"They're coming. They're coming here."

Kitty knew now that this had to be told. She ran to the TUFF phone station and phoned the mayor.

Now things were really getting bad. Since the news of Petsburg getting destroyed reached civilian ears, everyone was in a panic. Mayor Teddy even had a perimeter set up at every entry into and out of Petropolis so nobody ever got in or out without being noticed. The city was now under lockdown so that whatever destroyed Petsburg would not be taking Petropolis without a fight. Back at TUFF, Kitty was getting the entire arsenal prepared. She had no idea what was going to assault, but she wasn't about to find out without a way to fight back. She then saw she had a call coming thru, so she headed to her office and picked up.

"Hello?"

"Kitty? It's Jack."

Upon hearing this, Kitty pulled the blinds of her office window down, shut the door, and brought her voice down to a whisper.

"What's up?"

"I've been investigating this matter and found out that a massive army's heading your way."

"I know. A pedestrian from Petsburg informed us. The city's going to soon be on lockdown to prevent the threat from getting in.

"Kitty, I'm not sure that we can hold out, but we'll give our all."

"Always Jack. Always."

"I've gathered all the information that I could from these past few days. I'll stop by TUFF to drop it off later."

"Be careful Jack."

"Will do."

And Jack hung up. Kitty looked around to see if anyone was eavesdropping. Nobody was. Kitty then decided to help out with the wall that Mayor Teddy was having established and constructing. Keswick even decided to put a force field generator into the design( hey, you never know when something like that might come in handy). And after what her search parties have informed her about, she wanted to be prepared.

Down in Hades, 00 was having a meeting with his fellow criminals. The room they were occupying was too dark to make out any specific descriptions, but 00 knew he had their attention. They were part of an elite team of villains( forged by 00 himself) known as the Overlords Managing Evil Genetic Armies also known as OMEGA. From the round table, from his left, 00 had MONSTER 05 thru 09.

"I must say that simulation was a success."

"Sir", 05 informed sounding like a real tough guy, "enough of this interrogation already. When do we get real fighting in?"

"I'm with 05 on thissss one", 08 hissed(obviously reptilian).

"In due time my friends", 00 informed, "What's say we take Petropolis next?"

The members of OMEGA nodded.

"00, I applaud your deception", 06 purred( as in cat-like), "but my children will not wait for long until they turn on each other."

"You're soon going to be feeding to your content 06", 05 growled, "as soon as I turn every infernal city into rubble."

"At least I have my own army in case the one we're now using goes down", 06 countered.

"Is that a challenge I hear coming from you?", 05 asked.

"SILENCE!",00 roared and 05 and 06 settled down fast, "Each of you will have your fair way of play."

"According to my calculations master", 07 beeped, "Our forces will be at the city of Petropolis in only a couple of days. Of course, we do need to consider the times they must rest. We can't fight well with weary men."

"Indeed.", 06 put in, "We each can be effective in our own unique way."

"I prefer to just head in there and beat the weak into submission", 05 grumbled.

"Always the violent one", 07 countered, "when careful calculations can be effective to the cause also."

05 wanted to start another argument, but remembering his last one, settled quietly. Finally, 09( who had been quiet most of this time) spoke up.

"We are in a very dire position", he said ominously, "If we do not consider the issue of other matters, I predict a dreadful vision."

"Our time for predicting is CLOSED 09!", 00 barked, "It was my genius alone which got us where we are today. With the special deliveries I've planted in all the major cities of the world, every TUFF agent in the world will be dead or enslaved."

OMEGA stood straight in their chairs as 00 continued his speech.

"To ensure that our victory is at hand, I will dispatch each of you to a designated city. Once there, wait for my signal."

"And when your signal goes off, then what?", 05 asked.

"Then..you terrorize anyone you can."

00 pulled several files from behind his chair and slid each one to each member. After OMEGA read their file's contents, they each lifted themselves from the table and started to head towards the door.

"Remember, Earth's new age is soon upon us. Don't disappoint me. You all know the penalty should you fail."

OMEGA turned after stopping, then bowed nobly.

"By your command master.", they answered in unification.

With that, one by one, they left the room. 00 knew all to well how to handle teammates who did not get along. Then again, there was one issue he didn't bring up. Ever since he found out that his little renegade( MONSTER 02) was in his midst, he had kept 03 and 04 on lookout round the clock. He didn't show up, but 00 knew that if OMEGA knew 02 was around, they would focus on him rather than the real mission he had for them. He'd leave 02 to 01. It was only fair considering that 01 was so effective and able to hold his own like that.

Jack had never been so stressed out. By the time he was done persuading the perimeter that he was a friend of TUFF, as well as keeping the information he gathered secret, he just wanted to get it to Kitty so that he could just go back to his work and be done with it. Judging by the way the mayor had the defenses lined up, it was gonna be one heck of a fight. Unfortunately, when he got a little ways past the perimeter, who should intercept his route? 03 and 04 of course. Jack had worked with them before, even though he was undercover, he put his game face on.

"Well, well look who's here."

"03, 04",Jack said trying to gain early acceptance, "What brings you two here?"

"00's getting pretty upset.", 03 informed, "He thinks-"

"You're not as loyal as you say you are.", 04 finished.

"I'm as loyal as you two are. I was gonna deliver this false evidence to Kitty and lead TUFF into your hands."

03 and 04 simply stood there with their arms crossed. Obviously Jack needed a better story to convince these two.

"Kitty believes I work for her like she did those other times."

"Which you failed.", 03 and 04 put in.

"Not failed, just manipulated. As long as they don't consider me a threat, you have full leverage."

03 and 04 didn't trust him as much as they could take him, but they had other things to do.

"Fortunately for you we're busy.", 04 informed, "But know that-"

"Our boss is not as easily convinced", 03 finished.

03 and 04 then got on their motorcycles and were out of sight. Jack sighed heavily. If they were off duty, the would have brought him straight to 00 and that would most certainly be bad. He just started on his way to TUFF again, hopefully 03 and 04 won't intercept him again when he left.


	14. Chapter 14

These times were certainly not nice on Dudley. Ever since that encounter, his dark ego felt stripped of it's glory. As if it had something that could eventually overpower it. And it didn't like it. As he grumbled rather loudly around his warehouse base, his bitter thoughts as well as conflicted feelings started to show.

"What was I even thinking?! Backing out on a fight that I could have won. I don't know how, and I don't know when, but I'll get even with that mutt. Just wait and see. And when he falls, and I prepare the final blow, when he begs for his life, I'll deny him."

Dudley pounded a hole in the wall out of frustration and that got the attention of his cronies. They could tell by the way he was acting that it was not a good time to ask what was going on, so they muttered among themselves( in secret).

"Is 01 mad?", Snaptrap asked, "He looks kind of mad."

"Of course he's mad Snaptrap", Bird Brain insisted, "He just had a massive encounter and now wants a rematch. That would put anybody on edge."

"Do you think we should have helped him?", Chameleon asked hoping for sincerity, "We would really tip the tide in his favor."

"I don't know Chameleon", Snaptrap said, "the tide is kind of hard to tip."

"Not the tide in the sea", Bird Brain corrected, "He means that we could have helped 01 and he'd win hands down."

"Oh", said Snaptrap who got the point, "that makes sense."

Dudley meanwhile was now (internally) at war with his darker ego. Although it was him talking to himself, his tone of voice made a big difference.

"I don't think I should be doing this anymore."

"And risk that kind of pain and suffering. Besides, like 00 said it's not like TUFF will take us back for acting the way we have will they?"

"Hey, their my friends, we can forgive anything."

"Anything you did before now or for this?"

Dudley couldn't disagree with that, but his personal conversation was interrupted when the alarm went off again. Agitated, Dudley stormed over to the computer to see what had the nerve to disrupt his very private conversation.

Kitty at this point was at the end of her rope. All this panic, assuring Petropolis that things were under control, and keeping her fellow TUFF agents in line, and more importantly, keeping her head straight. All this stress was really making her reach a boiling point. Mostly because she was upset about Dudley, and more importantly, there was an army of who knew what heading there way. What else could go wrong? She was now in her office trying to calm down. No chief of TUFF should crack under pressure, but now with all of this, she was not so sure. Just as she was gonna join in the resistance, a knock came at her window. She turned and saw that it was Jack. She let him in, and he looked as though he was on edge. Quickly, he shut the window and pulled the blinds while Kitty closed her office door and made sure nobody was around. When that was done, Jack reached into his tuxedo, and pulled out a file full of evidence and information and put it on Kitty's desk.

"So Jack, what news?"

"Grave. That army we're going to fight? It's only a few miles off. It'll be here in only a few hours."

That WAS bad news! So soon? But the perimeter was just established. And the pedestrians were being evacuated to safe houses outside Petropolis. With this news, people were going to panic further.

"This is bad Jack. Real bad."

"And it's not just us Kitty. Look at this."

Jack headed over to Kitty's computer and typed in some codes. Instantly, other secret agencies all over the world showed up facing the exact same thing.

"This army we're gonna fight isn't just here. It's everywhere."

Kitty couldn't believe it. Now she had at least a visual of what she was up against. She saw soldiers well muscled and armed with lethal assault rifles, tanks with plasma based laser blasters as well as missile launchers, giant battle robots that could topple entire city blocks worth of buildings (in a variety of looks might I add), and not to mention all those aerial fighters that could drop bombs or who knows what. She saw it for a moment, then the screen went static.

"Jack, we need to get everyone up and running."

"I'm afraid we can't do that Kitty. A few hours isn't much time."

"I'm probably at a disadvantage, but I'm not going down without a fight."

Jack agreed with that. He then made his way to the window, pulled the blinds apart, opened it , and turned to Kitty.

"I'll help as much as I can Kitty. Best of luck."

"Same to you", Kitty told him as he vanished into the panicking crowds.

Now all over the world, people were preparing for their attackers, when right out of the blue, every big screen in the world went static, then revealed( pause for effect) Donnagon Puppy. And Kitty certainly noticed it.

"Donnagon? What brings you here? Even when we're being assaulted by a massive army?"

"I know", Donnagon answered smiling devilishly, "I sent them to do so."

"You WHAT?!", Kitty yelled as other people gasped.

"Nothing like sending my forces out after I've finished my crimes and all according to my perfect little plan."

"You're forces?! You're crimes?! You're plan?!",Kitty cried in shock, "Donnagon?! You've been behind this from the start?!"

"And it took you this long to figure it out", Donnagon boasted, "Sometimes I disguise myself as someone you know, and other times I'm someone you've never seen, but no matter what disguise I wear, I have one identity that's known to all."

Donnagon snapped his fingers and an eruption of white fire engulfed him as 03 and 04( who had shown up beside him introduced him.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the world.", 03 started, "Allow us to introduce-"

"The big, bad boss of the criminal underworlds.",04 added.

"The master of manipulation.", 03 chimed in.

"The lord of lies.", 04 put in.

"The Napoleon of crime.", 03 added.

"And the king of Hades.",04 claimed.

"MONSTER 00!", 03 and 04 finished in unification as the flames subsided to reveal 00 in Donnagon's place. Not one face on anyone wasn't shocked. While 00 stood there defiantly.

"Now that the cat's out of the bag, my forces are just arriving."

Kitty turned to see that just beyond the shield, 00's forces were marching toward them. It was everything she saw and more. Herbert and Keswick were by her side and had brought out their own weaponry.

"Told you Donnagon was behind this", Herbert told Kitty although he felt like now was not the best time to say it.

Dante had just heard 00's announcement and now he had other things to worry about. His fellow agents had cleared out and now he had headed over to the perimeter where he was supposed to meet up with them. Even on his cycle, Dante had the idea that 00 was secretly working behind curtains. A tactic he was all to familiar with. But that would have to wait. All good things came to those who bide their time( or so he heard). Just then, Dudley showed up and had thrown a trash can which almost hit Dante's cycle, but he swerved out of the way just in time. But Dante jumped off his cycle( which parked itself nearby), and faced his opponent.

"Back for a rematch huh?"

Dudley just sneered.

" I just want to finish that fight we had before we were interrupted."

"I understand", Dante stated, "you couldn't see past 00's guise, so being the complete moron that you are, you believed every word he said."

That comment set Dudley off. Almost as if his rage just exploded in his mind. Now he was out for blood, so he ran towards his opponent as Dante did the same, and the fight was on again. They used similar styles from their last encounter, but Dudley had gotten more smart. This time, it was Dante on the edge, but as always, Dante had a trick or two up his sleeve. Even the fireballs and lightning bolts were used again as (by some bizarre coincidence) epic battle music played to add some extra spice to the encounter. Dudley had gotten used to his new favorite device. How come TUFF didn't think of something like this? And the combat was just the same. So evenly matched in power, but Dante had one advantage: he thought things through while Dudley just assaulted in blind rage. 00 had been watching all this from a screen nearby, and he was certainly impressed.

"How nice to see a new minion of mine take on one of my most hated enemies", he thought to himself wickedly, "As much as I would love to see them battle their brains out, I have..other plans. 01, your services are no longer required. For now."

Dudley had been through enough. This fight went on longer than he wanted it to and now he wanted to finish it. He flipped backward, and prepared another fireball to toss. This time, he waited until Dante had generated a lightning bolt and then they threw their projectiles and as they collided, the resulting explosion knocked both dogs backward. Stunned for a minute, they stood once more and were prepared to keep it up. 00 however was not. Reaching into his coat pocket, he pulled out Dudley's contract( which hovered next to him after he let go of it) and just folded his arms and continued watching the show who's stars were too busy occupied with each other to notice they were being watched. Finally, as Dudley and Dante had come within close range, 00 snapped his fingers and Dudley reverted back to his original white dog form. Caught completely by surprise at the loss of his blood lust, Dudley was easily subdued and over powered. Just as Dante had hit him over the head and he fell, he caught sight of 00 waving good-bye as the screen went blank, and he slipped into unconsciousness. Dante stood over Dudley breathing heavily.

"Nice moves kid.", he huffed, "But not good enough to take me."

Dante disabled the device in his palm so the static electricity wouldn't form lightning anymore, and after getting his cycle back up, drove over and in a quick move, swung Dudley's unconsciousness body off the street, on to his cycle, and was speeding to the rendezvous point. While riding, he made a phone call on his communicator.

"Yep?", Alicia answered.

"Guys, I'm bringing back a "special witness". Prepare for evaluation when I get there."

"Roger that", Otto added.

Dante then hung up, and was soon outside the perimeter and heading away from Petropolis. His fellow agents had changed the location they were going to meet at due to 00's sudden assault going on.

As 00's forces came within range, the artillery opened fire. The tanks and the air forces were certainly about even in strength and as many lives went down, it seemed like this would be a stand still. But the war was far from over. With their soldiers taking out the big guns and firing round upon round, the sounds of war were ringing around the whole area as Kitty started barking out directions.

"Keswick, give more power to the force field! It will help us nullify their missile launchers!"

Sure enough the force field was doing it's job, but the invading army had shields too. Some of the robots had generators that created fields of slowing that slowed down unfriendly fire. The battle was more epic than Kitty had anticipated.

"Soldiers, keep the flanks on your right in tow!"

The soldiers on her right reinforced their cover, reloaded, and continued firing. The artillery and the tanks had their work cut out for them. Some aimed at the smaller forces while others aimed at the huge robots that had trudged forward. Just as Kitty thought it would soon let up, 00 contacted her.

"Having fun are we?"

"Face it 00, if this is your best shot, you're wasting your army."

"Who says this is my only army?", 00 asked with a devilish smile on his face once more, "Look behind you."

"Nice try 00, there is nothing behind-"

Just then an eruption occurred behind Kitty and she and TUFF turned to see that coming in from behind was a massive horde of disgusting, vile and very vicious corpse like creatures that were swarming over everything and anything in sight. Now things had just gone from bad to worse. Hostile forces in front of them, hostile forces behind them, and no way out. Kitty was totally stunned in shock and horror. This couldn't be real. It was...it was a nightmare. And what was worse, these things were regurgitating what looked like egg sacs that were hatching and the whelps that spawned were maturing rapidly. What was worse? Taken down by an army of robots and soldiers, or being devoured alive by a swarm of death?


	15. Chapter 15

Slowly, but surely, TUFF and the brave souls walked down the road to the holding cells where they would then be transported to Hades and then enslaved. They had fought bravely, but with such overwhelming odds, they had no other choice but to surrender to 00's tyrannical rule and hand over the nations and all natural resources over. After they did, 00 had somehow opened a massive portal that sucked all of the corpse creatures and egg sacs away. As Kitty walked down the line with Keswick and Herbert following, she gazed at 00 who looked back with wicked pride and a cackle.

"You won't get away with this Monster 00!"

"Oh really?", 00 asked her, "Cause by the look of things, I don't think you're in a position to claim that. I have a special kind of torture just for you."

"Just wait and see you demon.", Herbert sneered, "Agent Puppy will break free of you and stop you!"

"Stop me?", 00 asked, "He allowed me to tempt him into helping me. All those lies I fed his pathetic, dim witted brain was the perfect weapon to use on him. Unlike other criminals you know, I don't use aggression as the first thing in crimes, I tell nobody what I'm up to, and I think things all the way through. I have calculated every strategy, every agent's status in battle, and every outcome of this fight before you even met me. And while you were focusing on me, my special Exterminator androids had replaced your fellow citizens and helped me into taking you all down. And once my Plague Organisms were in place, all I had to do was wait. Face it TUFF, you just got beaten!"

00 cackled like the maniacal tyrant he really was and it echoed across the whole area.

"FINALLY, I WIN!"

With that, the screen 00 was on went blank and Kitty and her fellow agents continued down the line as their robotic enforcers kept them walking. Just as Kitty was thinking it was over, one of the androids pulled her out of the line and near a dark alley. There who was waiting with a remote control like device? Jack Rabbit. Kitty was about to say his name, but Jack's look told her now was not the best time. After being sure nobody was watching, Jack led Kitty past the perimeter, out of eyesight, and there, Jack gave Kitty a nod which confirmed to her they could talk now.

"Jack, how?"

"Never give up Kitty."

Kitty felt okay she got away, but felt terrible that everyone else didn't.

"Jack, our fellow undercover fighting forces all faced this very problem. They probably surrendered as well. They're gone. We lost."

"Not quite Kitty.", Jack informed her, "We still have a chance to turn this around. By the way, I hot wired one of the offline androids and reprogrammed it so that I could get you out."

"Yeah, thanks."

Jack pressed a button on his remote and the reprogrammed android shifted into a toaster which he tossed the remote on and blasted with his blaster. Kitty was about to object, but had second thoughts.

"So how are we gonna get help?", she asked her old partner and by the look in his eye, Jack had a plan.

"Do you think he'll be okay?"

"Still not sure, he's regaining consciousness, but not enough to gain sight."

Dudley woke in an unfamiliar room and had a weird feeling like he was strapped to a panel, and had brain surgery with a flaming hot burn on his left arm. He couldn't make out who was around him, but they seemed like a couple of dogs and a cat. He was slipping in and out of consciousness so he had a hard time getting descriptions.

"We can't keep him at this spot", the middle dog who seemed male stated, "00 will be dispatching search bots to scan the areas."

"At least the materials Dark Wolf sent us to retrieve was successful", the left figure said sounding like a female, "Our guises really helped."

"Yeah", the middle said, "00 would certainly use this kind of trickery. First use his old TUFF agent guise to lure people into trusting him, while that happens, he feeds lies into that person's mind like saying he was into business administration, when really all he was doing was plotting how to use what you know against you while giving the impression your own personal desire would be achieved."

"Huh...what?", Dudley asked gaining enough consciousness to gain a little better sight, until the middle figure knocked him on the head again, and he lost it.

"So how did that surgery to get that bug out go?", the middle asked the right figure( obviously the other male).

"You won't believe how thick his skull is. I had to use about three different methods just to get in there, but I got it. 00 won't be using this dog's eyes anytime soon, although it will take about a couple hours for my medical herbs to kick in and heal him. You really roughed him up J."

Did Dudley just hear, "J"? As in the one who had been stealing his glory and leading him to that binding contract with 00 and becoming the very thing he was used to fighting? That "J"?!

"Hey, you wouldn't believe what he was dishing out. It pushed my limit to near total. Not just anybody can do that."

"So what about Dudley here?", the female asked.

"We'll ship him off to the extraction point where Jack signaled he would be with Kitty. TUFF needs us more than ever."

Now Dudley could have sworn he heard Kitty and Jack. Just when his consciousness seemed clear enough to see, the middle figure(J) reached out and knocked him out again.

Monster Zero(00)gazed across the now enslaved humanity and was utterly pleased. It took a great deal of energy to generate those portals that took his Plague Organisms back to Hades where they burned in the ever flowing magma streams. Some he kept in a special sealed pit where he had people executed for disobeying or anything that made him mad. He remembered all the talks he had with Dudley that got Dudley to trust him completely. Telling that since he left TUFF to be a business man was a great back story, but he had to crank it up. That's when he fed Dudley doubt about his fellow agents trusting him. He would trust them with his life, but how much would TUFF trust him after all the trouble he tends to cause? After a breather, he used his infernal power stone to broadcast another world wide announcement.

"ATTENTION, PEOPLE OF THE WORLD! I CONTACT YOU ALL TO INFORM YOU THAT EVERYTHING THAT IS HAPPENING IS NOT A THREAT! IT IS A PROMISE THAT WILL ENSURE THE SURVIVAL OF OUR WORLD! YOU HAVE GROWN BLIND, ARROGANT, AND CONFUSED. YOU SUFFER FROM YOUR LIMITED INTELLECT, SHORT SIGHTED JUDGEMENT, AND FRAGILE FORMS! TODAY, EARTH REBELS! AFTER LIVING IN HARMONY WITH HUMANITY, HUMANITY BELIEVED THEY COULD SURPASS THE SACRED BALANCE! WITH YOUR TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES, YOU HAVE INSTEAD USED IT TO DESTROY OUR VERY HOME! NO MORE! THE EARTH WILL NOT STAND BY AS HUMANITY CONTINUES IT'S RAMPAGE! TO THAT END, EARTH HAS DISPATCHED US TO PUNISH ALL THAT ARE GUILTY OF THIS UNFORGIVABLE CRIME! TUFF BELIEVED THEY COULD CHANGE AND CONTAIN THE CHAOS AND INSANITY ONLY TO PROVE THAT THE VERY THING THEY SWORE TO CONTAIN HAD CORRUPTED THEM AS WELL! WHEN YOU REVEAL AND ACCEPT YOUR TRUE FORMS, THEN NATURE DECIDES WHO STAYS AND WHO MUST BE PUT DOWN! THOSE WHO DARE TRY TO ALTER OUR DESIGN WILL ONLY KNOW DEATH! WHEN YOU REVEAL AND ACCEPT YOUR TRUE FORMS, THEN NATURE DECIDES WHO STAYS AND WHO MUST BE PUT DOWN! EMBRACE OUR NEW AGE, FOR THE ERA OF TUFF IS OVER! WELCOME, TO THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT!"

With that, Donnegan went off the air, and went back to inform Dudley's minions( who serve him now) on what was going on and saw they had overheard the proclamation.

"You were magnificent sir", Snaptrap gushed.

"You really know your stuff", Chameleon stated.

"And your plan worked perfectly", Bird Brain put in.

"When I plan boys, everything goes according to plan", Zero informed as he adjusted his red leather coat.

"Sir, we have intel that 01 has disappeared", Bird Brain reported as the idea just struck him.

"Pity.", Zero answered coldly, "I was looking forward to sharing this glorious victory with him and possibly hear about the outcome of that fight with my little "renegade". He fell, but it could have been a rouse. I had other things to do than find out, so I left fate in charge. No matter, I'll find him somewhere. In the meantime, we'll keep this up, and the world will be pure again."

Kitty had been thinking on talking to Jack about his post. Since they were alone and on their way to a hidden place where Jack told her there was help, now might be the perfect time to get it over with.

"Hey Jack, why is it only the chief of TUFF knows about this TRIPLE brigade you're part off?"

"Kitty, times were tough. Criminal activity was getting hard to monitor, so Herbert devised a team of specially trained spies to go behind enemy lines, and get the information at the source. But since we are working with the enemy, we have to make sure we don't show we have ties to TUFF so our targets won't get suspicious of TUFF having leverage. I know some who got caught and believe me it was too horrible to relive."

Kitty certainly believed that detail, but this whole TRIPLE brigade information was mind boggling. Did Herbert really train spies to work for the enemy just to get information? Of course, times could have been different then. Jack also noticed that Kitty seemed pretty low and upset so he decided to speak his mind too.

"You okay?"

"I just..I've just been through a lot. I still am. We're nearly defeated, and now I just found out that my boss trained agents to work against us when they're really working with us."

"I can relate.", Jack assured her.

After about a couple hours, they stopped by an old theme quick stop for a quick bite and a gas refill. Kitty went to get food and supplies while Jack refilled his car( which they were traveling in). Then he remembered the time Dudley switched brains with Kitty(and without permission I might add). Boy, that was a blow to his hard earned profits and it took him a long time to get it back up again considering that Dudley used it at Mr. Wong's All You Can Eat buffet. At least he was able to pay for gas. Kitty soon exited the quick stop with a couple grocery bags full of stuff which Jack helped load into the trunk. Then they were off again.

Dudley regained consciousness, but now found himself on the steps of what appeared to be an old library. Since he felt like he had nothing else to do, decided to go inside and think things over. That's when he noticed a note attached to his forehead. He took it off and attempted to read it. Some days he found it difficult to do, but not today.

"Wait here. Help will be here shortly. Who's Help?", he wondered.

Just then the sound of a car approaching sounded off. Dudley turned to see Kitty and Jack pull up to the library steps and as they got out, Dudley got suspicious.

"What's HE doing here?", Dudley asked Kitty, but she just kept looking at him.

Dudley then noticed that Kitty looked very upset and concerned by the way she had her arms folded and the expression on her face.

"Kitty, are you mad?", he asked her nervously.

"YOU!", she suddenly yelled, "Do you have any idea what you put me thru?! Constantly on the edge trying to keep everyone focused, and what do YOU do?! You go rouge, humiliate us, step on us, run us out of the job, and now, you just helped the most evil man enslave all our forces and doomed the entire world forever! Am I upset?!"

Kitty's word really hurt Dudley and he really felt guilty about what he did.

"Dudley, why do you get us into these situations?! Don't you EVER learn?! I hoped you could see thru your dad's charade, but as always, you were too trusting and easily forgiving to even think straight!"

Dudley was now starting to tear up a little. He had no idea he hurt Kitty so bad.

"I'm sorry Kitty. And Herbert was right, I am childish at times, and I do mess up because I trust people."

"You got THAT right!", Kitty answered still looking pretty mad.

"I tried to get out of Dad's services, but I had no free will. I couldn't control myself. And now everyone I know is suffering.", Dudley whimpered as tears rolled down his face, "They could be dying. And it's all MY FAULT! I'll never forgive myself if this keeps up."

After hearing that, Kitty felt a little satisfied that Dudley admitted he was wrong and tried to change his ways, but that was just a start. He had a lot to do before she could trust him like she used to. Jack who had been listening to this conversation, walked forward.

"Are you two finished?", he asked.

"Jack?!", Dudley asked seeing him, "What are you doing here?"

Dudley was about to assault Jack, but Kitty stopped him.

"At ease Dudley, Jack's a friend. He helped me escape Zero."

Dudley settled down as Jack continued what he had to say.

"Look, I know you two are concerned with each other, but we are not getting anything done if we're fighting."

Kitty tried calming down. She knew Jack was right and she handed Dudley a tissue which he blew his nose with.

"So what are we gonna do about Zero and OMEGA?", Kitty asked Jack.

"We can't. But I know someone who can.", Jack informed her, "We need to find ULTRA."

"ULTRA?", Kitty asked, "But according to our records they were wiped out."

Jack reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to her.

"Are you sure?"

Kitty looked over the paper with Dudley reading also, and their faces brightened. Maybe this war wasn't over after all.


End file.
